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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. pass — a permit
  11. field — for sport
  12. cell — a phone
  13. present — there
  14. wax — to grow
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. cell — in biology
  21. field — a subject
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. present — a gift
  24. field — farmland

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