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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 120 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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. ground — a position
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. last — finally
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. cold — an illness
  9. tube — the underground
  10. wax — to grow
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bat — the animal
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. last — to go on
  15. pop — music
  16. last — final
  17. ground — the earth
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. ground — crushed
  20. pop — soda
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pop — to visit
  24. tube — a container

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