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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. board — a committee
  4. shower — to wash
  5. field — a subject
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. wax — to grow
  9. field — for sport
  10. bore — to tire
  11. board — to get on
  12. cold — an illness
  13. spell — a short time
  14. spell — magic
  15. club — a group
  16. club — for dancing
  17. shower — rain
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. club — for golf
  21. bore — to drill
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. spell — letters
  24. field — farmland

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