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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. tube — a container
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. land — to come down
  10. wax — to grow
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. tube — the underground
  13. band — a music group
  14. sharp — clever
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. kick — in football
  17. land — a country
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. land — ground
  20. snap — to click
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. band — a ring
  24. tube — in a tire

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