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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. stock — goods
  5. game — wild animals
  6. rush — hurry
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. bulb — for light
  9. wax — to grow
  10. file — a document
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. swing — to play on
  13. wind — moving air
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. wind — moving air
  16. file — a tool
  17. bulb — for light
  18. game — a match
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. stock — shares
  21. swing — music
  22. file — a line of people
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. swing — in golf

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