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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. mate — a friend
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. ball — a dance
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. ball — a great time
  7. capital — a city
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. lean — to bend
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. mate — a partner
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. wax — to grow
  18. bat — the animal
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. mine — for digging
  23. mate — to breed
  24. ball — a round shape

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