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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. wax — to grow
  3. spell — a short time
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. rash — a series
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wound — an injury
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. game — a match
  12. game — wild animals
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cell — in biology
  15. spell — letters
  16. chair — a leader
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. capital — a city
  19. cell — a phone
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. capital — money
  23. spell — magic
  24. chair — to sit on

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