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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  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. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — to grow
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. cell — in biology
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. game — wild animals
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. kid — child
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. chest — of your body
  15. game — a match
  16. board — a committee
  17. board — to get on
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cell — a phone
  20. kick — in football
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. kid — to tease
  23. chest — a box
  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