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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. capital — a city
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. cell — a phone
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. file — a document
  9. rush — hurry
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. cell — in biology
  13. capital — money
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. file — a line of people
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. fine — high quality
  18. file — a tool
  19. wax — to grow
  20. snap — to click
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. fine — all right
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. cell — in a prison

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