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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cap — of ice
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. fall — to drop
  8. wax — to grow
  9. lie — to recline
  10. fall — to drop
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. cap — a hat
  13. chest — a box
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. cap — a lid
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. fall — the season
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. plane — a tool
  20. bat — the animal
  21. mine — for digging
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. mine — an explosive

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