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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. wind — moving air
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. sharp — clever
  8. net — in sport
  9. wind — moving air
  10. game — wild animals
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. rule — government
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. rule — a law
  16. net — for catching
  17. game — a match
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. tear — from crying
  21. kid — to tease
  22. net — after costs
  23. wax — to grow
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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