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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 120 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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rock — a stone
  6. cold — not warm
  7. rock — music
  8. spell — magic
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. wax — to grow
  11. spell — letters
  12. press — to push
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. press — a publisher
  15. press — newspapers
  16. spell — a short time
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. mine — for digging

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