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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. fall — the season
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. net — after costs
  5. kid — to tease
  6. wax — to grow
  7. lean — thin
  8. shower — to wash
  9. fall — to drop
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. fall — to drop
  12. net — in sport
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a document
  15. kid — child
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. net — for catching
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. file — a tool
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. season — of the year
  24. lean — to bend

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