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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. land — to come down
  3. chair — a leader
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. land — a country
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. date — the fruit
  10. race — a contest
  11. race — humankind
  12. race — the arms race
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. land — ground
  16. ball — a great time
  17. ball — a dance
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. squash — the sport
  21. squash — to crush
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. wax — to grow
  24. date — on the calendar

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