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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. swing — to play on
  6. wax — to grow
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. chest — of your body
  9. pound — a weight
  10. root — the cause
  11. cold — not warm
  12. swing — music
  13. club — a group
  14. club — for golf
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. club — for dancing
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. chest — a box
  20. chest — of your body
  21. swing — in golf
  22. root — of a plant
  23. root — of a word
  24. cold — an illness

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