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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. squash — the sport
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. root — of a plant
  6. bat — the animal
  7. chest — of your body
  8. band — a music group
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. root — the cause
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. root — of a word
  15. chest — of your body
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. squash — to crush
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. band — a ring
  20. deal — to handle
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. season — in sport
  24. chest — a box

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