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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 information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. file — a tool
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. file — a line of people
  8. field — farmland
  9. spring — the season
  10. field — a subject
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. wax — to grow
  14. field — for sport
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. spring — a coil
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. fork — in a road
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. bat — the animal
  22. sharp — clever
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. spring — of water

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