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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. file — a tool
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. land — to come down
  8. court — of a king
  9. file — a line of people
  10. hand — in cards
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. court — for sport
  14. wind — moving air
  15. file — a document
  16. vault — a safe
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. wax — to grow
  19. board — a committee
  20. hand — help
  21. board — to get on
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. court — of law
  24. hand — part of the body

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