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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. rock — a stone
  4. wound — an injury
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. cap — of ice
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. rock — music
  11. scale — size or range
  12. plane — a tool
  13. cap — a hat
  14. wound — an injury
  15. chest — of your body
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. cap — a lid
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. wax — to grow
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. scale — in music
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. rock — to move gently

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