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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. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. land — ground
  4. chest — of your body
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. spring — a coil
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. chest — of your body
  9. land — to come down
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. spring — the season
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. stem — to come from
  16. date — the fruit
  17. bass — the fish
  18. bass — low music
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. wax — to grow
  21. spring — of water
  22. chest — a box
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. land — a country

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