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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. press — a publisher
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. spring — the season
  6. bear — the animal
  7. spring — a coil
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. mine — for digging
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. spring — of water
  17. press — to push
  18. press — newspapers
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. ball — a dance
  21. kid — child
  22. wax — to grow
  23. kid — to tease
  24. bear — the animal

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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