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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 ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. last — final
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cell — in biology
  9. bank — for money
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. rest — a break
  12. kid — to tease
  13. rest — what's left
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. bank — of a river
  17. bank — for money
  18. last — finally
  19. cell — a phone
  20. wax — to grow
  21. kid — child
  22. last — to go on
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. wound — an injury

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