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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — to grow
  4. land — to come down
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. field — farmland
  7. land — ground
  8. current — electric
  9. stem — to come from
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. field — for sport
  12. chip — for betting
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. current — of water
  15. land — a country
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. ground — a position
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. ground — crushed
  20. chip — to eat
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. field — a subject
  23. ground — the earth
  24. current — happening now

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