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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. cell — in biology
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. plane — a tool
  18. field — for sport
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. field — a subject
  22. cell — a phone
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. straw — a straw man

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