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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. bass — low music
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. field — farmland
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. shower — rain
  8. craft — a skill
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. craft — a handicraft
  12. bass — the fish
  13. shower — to wash
  14. wax — to grow
  15. field — for sport
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. spring — of water
  19. pitch — completely
  20. spring — a coil
  21. craft — boats
  22. field — a subject
  23. spring — the season
  24. bore — to drill

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