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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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. current — happening now
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. fall — to drop
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. current — of water
  8. fork — in a road
  9. row — a line
  10. row — to paddle
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. chest — a box
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. current — electric
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. chest — of your body
  17. fall — to drop
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. wax — to grow
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. fall — the season
  22. bat — the animal
  23. chest — of your body
  24. trunk — of a tree

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