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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. rock — music
  4. mate — to breed
  5. mate — a friend
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. fall — the season
  8. ground — crushed
  9. fall — to drop
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. rock — a stone
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. lean — to bend
  14. wax — to grow
  15. game — a match
  16. mate — a partner
  17. game — wild animals
  18. fall — to drop
  19. ground — a position
  20. spring — a coil
  21. lean — thin
  22. spring — the season
  23. ground — the earth
  24. game — a kind of play

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