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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — thin
  3. field — a subject
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. mark — a trace
  7. cell — a phone
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. mark — a grade
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. spell — letters
  12. wax — to grow
  13. cell — in biology
  14. spell — magic
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. field — farmland
  18. spell — a short time
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. field — for sport
  23. date — the fruit
  24. pitcher — a jug

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