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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. club — a group
  5. wax — to grow
  6. spell — letters
  7. club — for dancing
  8. spell — magic
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. chair — a leader
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. club — for golf
  20. staff — employees
  21. spell — a short time
  22. staff — a stick
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — the Cold War

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