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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. net — in sport
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bound — obliged
  6. file — a line of people
  7. scale — size or range
  8. wind — moving air
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. stem — to come from
  11. cap — of ice
  12. file — a tool
  13. wax — to grow
  14. cap — a lid
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. cap — a hat
  17. bound — certain
  18. scale — in music
  19. file — a document
  20. net — after costs
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. bound — tied together
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. net — for catching

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