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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wind — moving air
  3. net — after costs
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. chest — a box
  6. net — in sport
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. wax — to grow
  9. chest — of your body
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. wind — moving air
  15. net — for catching
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. squash — the sport
  18. chest — of your body
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. shower — rain
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. shower — to wash
  23. squash — to crush
  24. wax — in the ear

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