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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. My mare is ________________ in color.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. wax — to grow
  6. rest — a break
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. kid — to tease
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. kid — child
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bay — a horse colour
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. rest — what's left
  22. rash — a series
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. rest — what's left

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