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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 lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. land — to come down
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cell — a phone
  10. chair — a leader
  11. land — ground
  12. face — to point toward
  13. cell — in biology
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. face — part of the head
  16. wax — to grow
  17. row — to paddle
  18. row — a line
  19. face — to confront
  20. bass — the fish
  21. land — a country
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. bass — low music
  24. cell — in a prison

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