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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. club — for dancing
  4. mug — to rob
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. fine — high quality
  7. dip — to sink
  8. mug — a cup
  9. land — to come down
  10. wax — to grow
  11. fall — the season
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. fine — all right
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. club — for golf
  16. mug — a face
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. bat — the animal
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. club — a group
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — to drop
  24. land — a country

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