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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. lean — thin
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. content — the amount
  8. file — a tool
  9. wax — to grow
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. file — a document
  13. stock — goods
  14. stock — shares
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. mine — for digging
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. file — a line of people
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. content — happy
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. vault — a safe

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