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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. ground — crushed
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. game — a match
  7. chest — a box
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. game — wild animals
  10. wax — to grow
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. wind — moving air
  15. chest — of your body
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. mouse — for a computer
  19. ground — the earth
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — the fruit
  22. wind — moving air
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. chest — of your body

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