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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. wax — to grow
  5. bat — the animal
  6. content — happy
  7. content — the amount
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. roll — a list
  12. roll — a cake
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. sharp — clever
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. sharp — with an edge

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