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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. pitch — completely
  7. kid — child
  8. lean — thin
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. wax — to grow
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rush — hurry
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. kid — to tease
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. lean — to bend
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. chair — a leader

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