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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. wax — to grow
  3. scale — in music
  4. file — a document
  5. deal — to handle
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. cold — an illness
  8. content — the amount
  9. fall — to drop
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. file — a tool
  14. scale — size or range
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. fall — the season
  17. file — a line of people
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. content — happy
  22. cold — not warm
  23. stem — to come from
  24. fall — to drop

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