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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. field — for sport
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. wax — to grow
  10. kick — in football
  11. scale — in music
  12. field — farmland
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. field — a subject
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. net — after costs
  18. bulb — for light
  19. scale — size or range
  20. bulb — for light
  21. net — in sport
  22. net — for catching
  23. pitch — completely
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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