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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bass — low music
  4. ball — a dance
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. land — a country
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. chest — of your body
  9. land — to come down
  10. current — happening now
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. key — for a lock
  13. current — electric
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. chest — a box
  17. key — the most important part
  18. current — of water
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. key — in music
  21. ball — a great time
  22. bass — the fish
  23. wax — to grow
  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