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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. firm — steady
  3. chest — of your body
  4. key — the most important part
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. track — a path
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. firm — decided
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. wax — to grow
  11. chest — a box
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. firm — a company
  14. bear — the animal
  15. chest — of your body
  16. bear — the animal
  17. track — a song
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. track — to keep track
  20. key — in music
  21. bat — the animal
  22. key — for a lock
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bat — for baseball

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