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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 have a corn on my right ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — part of the body
  2. chair — a leader
  3. clip — for paper
  4. field — a subject
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. field — for sport
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. hand — help
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. clip — to cut
  15. hand — in cards
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. clip — a video
  19. cell — a phone
  20. wax — to grow
  21. field — farmland
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. foot — a measure
  24. cell — in biology

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