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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. rash — hasty
  3. toast — bread
  4. snap — to click
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. file — a tool
  8. land — to come down
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. rash — a series
  12. pop — to visit
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. file — a line of people
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. file — a document
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. wax — to grow
  21. land — a country
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. land — ground
  24. pop — music

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