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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chest — of your body
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. saw — the tool
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wax — to grow
  8. cold — an illness
  9. season — of the year
  10. saw — the tool
  11. season — in sport
  12. ground — a position
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. game — wild animals
  15. ground — the earth
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. chest — of your body
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. ground — crushed
  22. leaves — of a tree
  23. chest — a box
  24. game — a match

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