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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. file — a tool
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. wax — to grow
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bulb — for light
  8. file — a line of people
  9. cap — a hat
  10. cap — a lid
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cap — of ice
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. bulb — for light
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. cold — not warm
  17. spring — a coil
  18. pass — a permit
  19. spring — the season
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. chest — a box
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. file — a document
  24. chest — of your body

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