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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. track — a song
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. cold — not warm
  5. root — of a word
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bat — the animal
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. wax — to grow
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. face — to confront
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. face — to point toward
  19. root — the cause
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. track — a path
  22. track — to keep track
  23. face — part of the head
  24. root — of a plant

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