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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. file — a document
  3. wax — to grow
  4. shower — to wash
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. shower — rain
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. current — electric
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. court — of law
  15. spring — the season
  16. spring — a coil
  17. court — of a king
  18. current — happening now
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a tool
  22. current — of water
  23. court — for sport
  24. spring — of water

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