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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 120 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. wax — to grow
  3. cold — an illness
  4. net — for catching
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. fork — in a road
  9. bass — low music
  10. fine — all right
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. net — in sport
  16. bass — the fish
  17. shower — rain
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. fine — high quality
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bass — the instrument
  24. net — after costs

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