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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 information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. wax — to grow
  3. file — a tool
  4. net — in sport
  5. field — farmland
  6. file — a line of people
  7. key — in music
  8. game — a match
  9. field — for sport
  10. net — for catching
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. field — a subject
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. mine — for digging
  17. key — for a lock
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. net — after costs
  20. game — wild animals
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. key — the most important part
  23. capital — a city
  24. capital — money

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