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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. chair — a leader
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wax — to grow
  8. craft — a skill
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. kid — child
  12. chest — of your body
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. land — to come down
  15. craft — boats
  16. land — a country
  17. land — ground
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com