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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. craft — boats
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. key — the most important part
  5. cell — a phone
  6. cell — in biology
  7. rash — hasty
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. wax — to grow
  11. clip — to cut
  12. key — in music
  13. rash — a series
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. key — for a lock
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. craft — a skill
  18. bat — the animal
  19. season — of the year
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. clip — for paper
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. clip — a video

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