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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wax — to grow
  4. race — the arms race
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — a coil
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spring — of water
  14. lie — to recline
  15. scale — in music
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. dip — to sink
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. race — humankind
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. race — a contest
  24. dip — a sauce

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