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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 120 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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. ball — a dance
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. file — a line of people
  8. wax — to grow
  9. game — wild animals
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. pitch — completely
  15. cue — a hint
  16. cue — for pool
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a document
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. cue — a signal
  21. ball — a great time
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — a video
  24. game — a match

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