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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 120 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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. bass — the fish
  7. firm — decided
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — in cards
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — a coil
  12. firm — a company
  13. content — happy
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. content — the amount
  16. staff — employees
  17. spring — of water
  18. firm — steady
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bass — low music
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. staff — a stick
  24. wax — to grow

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