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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. ball — a dance
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. fall — to drop
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. spell — letters
  9. spell — magic
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. ball — a great time
  12. field — for sport
  13. spell — a short time
  14. wound — an injury
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — farmland
  17. cold — not warm
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — an illness
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. fall — to drop
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. wax — to grow

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