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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The light ________________ burned out.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. spring — of water
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. game — wild animals
  6. spring — the season
  7. cold — an illness
  8. lean — to bend
  9. spring — a coil
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. wake — a trail
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. bulb — for light
  15. wax — to grow
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. pitch — completely
  18. game — a match
  19. bulb — for light
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. lean — thin
  24. cold — not warm

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