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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 116 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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. tube — the underground
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. land — ground
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. land — to come down
  11. wax — to grow
  12. plane — a tool
  13. tube — a container
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. file — a document
  21. file — a tool
  22. file — a line of people
  23. land — a country
  24. wake — a trail

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