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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. This piece is in a major ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. key — in music
  2. wax — to grow
  3. land — ground
  4. key — for a lock
  5. land — a country
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bear — the animal
  8. pound — a weight
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bear — the animal
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. cold — an illness
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. kid — to tease
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. land — to come down
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. kid — child
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. cold — not warm
  24. key — the most important part

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