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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. stem — to come from
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. chair — a leader
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. fine — high quality
  11. wound — an injury
  12. ground — crushed
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wax — to grow
  15. mark — a trace
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. ground — the earth
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. mark — a grade
  20. fine — all right
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. ground — a position
  24. stem — of a plant

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