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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. pitch — completely
  3. club — for dancing
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. mark — a trace
  8. clip — a video
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. field — farmland
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. field — a subject
  14. mine — for digging
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. club — for golf
  17. sharp — clever
  18. club — a group
  19. clip — for paper
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. wax — to grow
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mark — a grade
  24. field — for sport

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