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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. chest — of your body
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. field — a subject
  6. last — final
  7. chest — of your body
  8. bat — the animal
  9. field — farmland
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wax — to grow
  15. last — to go on
  16. wound — an injury
  17. chest — a box
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. field — for sport
  23. plane — a tool
  24. mouse — for a computer

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