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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 124 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'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. shower — to wash
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. land — to come down
  8. saw — the tool
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. wax — to grow
  11. land — ground
  12. shower — rain
  13. spring — the season
  14. land — a country
  15. firm — a company
  16. saw — the tool
  17. spring — a coil
  18. wind — moving air
  19. spring — of water
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. firm — decided
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wax — for sculpting

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