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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. fall — to drop
  3. wax — to grow
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. can — a tin
  7. ground — the earth
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. ground — a position
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. game — a match
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. fall — the season
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. can — a tin
  16. mine — for digging
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. can — to be able to
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. fall — to drop
  21. pound — a weight
  22. ground — crushed
  23. game — wild animals
  24. fan — to cool the air

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