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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 120 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 ________________ market has crashed.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. This piece is in a major ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. stock — shares
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — a country
  5. bat — the animal
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. last — final
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. land — ground
  12. last — finally
  13. key — in music
  14. wound — an injury
  15. last — to go on
  16. key — for a lock
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. key — the most important part
  20. stock — goods
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wax — to grow
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. arm — a part of something

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