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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. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wax — to grow
  6. cell — a phone
  7. rock — to move gently
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. game — wild animals
  10. rock — a stone
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. chest — of your body
  13. rock — music
  14. rash — hasty
  15. chest — of your body
  16. game — a match
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology
  19. rash — a series
  20. chest — a box
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. cold — an illness
  24. rash — on the skin

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