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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. rush — hurry
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. scale — in music
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. swing — in golf
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. bat — the animal
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. squash — to crush
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. content — the amount
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. swing — music
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. land — ground
  17. scale — size or range
  18. content — happy
  19. squash — the sport
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. swing — to play on
  22. wax — to grow
  23. land — a country
  24. wax — for sculpting

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