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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wax — to grow
  3. present — the time now
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. ground — the earth
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. ground — a position
  11. season — of the year
  12. season — in sport
  13. mark — a trace
  14. present — a gift
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — child
  17. mark — a grade
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. hand — in cards
  21. present — there
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. ground — crushed

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