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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. row — a line
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. row — to paddle
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. land — to come down
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. land — ground
  17. bat — the animal
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. dip — to sink
  20. land — a country
  21. root — of a word
  22. wax — to grow
  23. root — of a plant
  24. root — the cause

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