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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 had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. swing — music
  4. scale — in music
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. board — to get on
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. scale — size or range
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wax — to grow
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bound — tied together
  16. bound — obliged
  17. bound — certain
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. swing — to play on
  20. kid — to tease
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. swing — in golf
  23. cold — not warm
  24. board — a committee

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