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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. tube — a container
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. spell — a short time
  5. spell — letters
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. cold — an illness
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. tube — the underground
  14. drill — the tool
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. spell — magic
  19. drill — a practice
  20. drill — army training
  21. wax — to grow
  22. foot — a measure
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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