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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 116 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 soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — army training
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. bat — the animal
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. drill — the tool
  8. wax — to grow
  9. file — a line of people
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. cold — an illness
  13. file — a document
  14. drill — a practice
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. rash — a series
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. file — a tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rash — hasty
  24. bat — in an idiom

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