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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. mine — for digging
  3. can — a tin
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. last — to go on
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. cap — a lid
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. cap — of ice
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. wax — to grow
  14. can — a tin
  15. season — of the year
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. can — to be able to
  18. last — final
  19. cap — a hat
  20. last — finally
  21. chest — a box
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. season — in sport
  24. chest — of your body

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