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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. jam — in traffic
  7. cold — not warm
  8. ground — the earth
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. fall — to drop
  13. bat — the animal
  14. wax — to grow
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. fall — the season
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. fall — to drop
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. ground — a position
  22. cold — an illness
  23. snap — to click
  24. racket — for tennis

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