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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. track — to keep track
  5. track — a path
  6. drill — the tool
  7. track — a song
  8. ground — crushed
  9. ground — a position
  10. wound — an injury
  11. field — a subject
  12. drill — army training
  13. wound — an injury
  14. branch — a division
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — for sport
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. foot — a measure
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. drill — a practice
  23. ground — the earth
  24. wax — to grow

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