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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. file — a line of people
  3. kick — in football
  4. roll — a cake
  5. cell — a phone
  6. wax — to grow
  7. file — a document
  8. mine — for digging
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. prune — to trim
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. kid — child
  15. roll — a list
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. prune — to trim
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cell — in biology
  23. file — a tool
  24. kick — a thrill

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