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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 120 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. cue — a signal
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. hand — help
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. cue — a hint
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. wound — an injury
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. cue — for pool
  15. hand — in cards
  16. wax — to grow
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. bat — the animal
  21. spell — a short time
  22. spell — magic
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. straw — a straw man

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