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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. field — farmland
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. wax — to grow
  7. field — a subject
  8. tear — to rip
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. field — for sport
  11. fine — all right
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. shower — to wash
  14. content — happy
  15. content — the amount
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. tear — from crying
  18. shower — rain
  19. pit — in a race
  20. fine — high quality
  21. pit — a hole
  22. snap — to click
  23. tear — from crying
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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