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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 116 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. club — for dancing
  3. track — a path
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. club — a group
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. wax — to grow
  10. track — a song
  11. track — to keep track
  12. kid — child
  13. bat — the animal
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. capital — money
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. kid — to tease
  18. capital — a city
  19. club — for golf
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. rash — a series

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