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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bore — to tire
  6. face — to confront
  7. land — a country
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bore — to drill
  11. spring — a coil
  12. key — in music
  13. face — to point toward
  14. wax — to grow
  15. spring — the season
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. spring — of water
  18. cell — a phone
  19. key — for a lock
  20. key — the most important part
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. face — part of the head
  23. land — to come down
  24. cell — in biology

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