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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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — to lash out
  2. rule — government
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. hand — in cards
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. hand — help
  7. rule — a law
  8. field — farmland
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. wax — to grow
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wake — a trail
  16. row — a line
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. field — for sport
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. chest — of your body
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. chest — a box
  24. field — a subject

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