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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. band — a music group
  4. cell — a phone
  5. drill — a practice
  6. pop — music
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. drill — army training
  10. pop — to visit
  11. wax — to grow
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. pop — soda
  14. file — a document
  15. kick — in football
  16. file — a tool
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. cell — in biology
  19. kick — a thrill
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. band — a ring
  23. drill — the tool
  24. file — a line of people

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