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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. When will it ________________ you to start?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. bass — low music
  3. suit — in cards
  4. suit — to fit
  5. chest — of your body
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. suit — clothes
  8. field — for sport
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. field — farmland
  11. field — a subject
  12. chest — a box
  13. wax — to grow
  14. land — ground
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. bass — the fish
  17. pitch — completely
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. land — a country
  21. land — to come down
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. chest — of your body
  24. pitch — a sports field

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