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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 120 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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. spell — letters
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. pop — music
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. club — for dancing
  12. chest — of your body
  13. spell — magic
  14. lean — thin
  15. club — a group
  16. chest — a box
  17. lean — to bend
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. pop — to visit
  20. spell — a short time
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. wax — to grow
  23. club — for golf
  24. pop — soda

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