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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wax — to grow
  3. ball — a dance
  4. court — of law
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. court — of a king
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. ball — a great time
  11. game — a match
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. cold — not warm
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. cold — an illness
  16. court — for sport
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. mark — a trace
  20. mark — a grade
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. game — wild animals
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. cold — the Cold War

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