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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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. Is it ________________ for us to be here?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. mate — to breed
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. degree — from a university
  7. tear — from crying
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. chair — a leader
  10. mate — a friend
  11. mate — a partner
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wax — to grow
  15. degree — temperature
  16. chest — of your body
  17. safe — a strongbox
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. tear — to rip
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — a box
  23. degree — an amount
  24. safe — out of danger

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