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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. stand — to bear
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — child
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. last — finally
  11. bat — the animal
  12. last — final
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. last — to go on
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. wax — to grow
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. game — a match
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. plane — a tool

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