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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. jam — to spread on bread
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. jam — in traffic
  7. wound — an injury
  8. kid — child
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. wax — to grow
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. wind — moving air
  16. kid — to tease
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. mine — for digging
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. wind — moving air
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. temple — side of the head

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