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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 116 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 old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. current — electric
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. spring — the season
  8. bat — the animal
  9. staff — employees
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — ground
  12. current — of water
  13. file — a tool
  14. spring — of water
  15. wax — to grow
  16. land — a country
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. staff — employees
  19. spring — a coil
  20. file — a document
  21. board — a committee
  22. current — happening now
  23. file — a line of people
  24. board — to get on

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