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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. 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. wax — for sculpting
  3. swing — music
  4. fork — in a road
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. swing — to play on
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. wax — to grow
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. bat — the animal
  16. swing — in golf
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. fine — all right
  20. kid — child
  21. fine — high quality
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — to wash
  24. 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