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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. bulb — for light
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. bat — the animal
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wax — to grow
  12. tear — to rip
  13. pop — soda
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. pop — to visit
  16. tear — from crying
  17. rush — hurry
  18. pop — music
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. bulb — for light
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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