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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. My father caught me by the ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. wind — moving air
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. cold — an illness
  7. game — wild animals
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. game — a match
  12. stem — to come from
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. cold — not warm
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. kid — child
  22. wax — to grow
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. wax — for sculpting

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