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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 120 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wax — to grow
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. hand — in cards
  10. spring — of water
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. season — in sport
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. squash — the sport
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. kid — child
  17. squash — to crush
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. hand — help
  20. spring — the season
  21. kid — to tease
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. season — of the year
  24. spring — a coil

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