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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've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. stem — to come from
  4. staff — a stick
  5. scale — in music
  6. wax — to grow
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. kid — to tease
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. mine — for digging
  12. staff — employees
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. land — a country
  15. scale — size or range
  16. kid — child
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. perch — the fish
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. staff — employees
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. land — ground
  24. land — to come down

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