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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. last — finally
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. firm — steady
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. last — to go on
  8. season — of the year
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. land — ground
  11. firm — decided
  12. firm — a company
  13. land — to come down
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. shower — rain
  17. spell — magic
  18. wax — to grow
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. season — in sport
  21. land — a country
  22. spell — a short time
  23. last — final
  24. spell — letters

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