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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. saw — the tool
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. field — farmland
  5. bat — the animal
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. spell — magic
  9. last — to go on
  10. field — for sport
  11. last — final
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. pass — a permit
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. spell — letters
  18. saw — the tool
  19. field — a subject
  20. last — finally
  21. wax — to grow
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spell — a short time
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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