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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. The tickets are free of ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. net — after costs
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. net — in sport
  11. roll — a cake
  12. charge — a price
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. roll — a list
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. charge — in control
  18. cold — an illness
  19. mine — for digging
  20. net — for catching
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. wax — to grow
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. ruler — for measuring

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