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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 116 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. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  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. safe — out of danger
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. spring — of water
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. file — a document
  8. capital — money
  9. wax — to grow
  10. tube — a container
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. spring — the season
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. spring — a coil
  19. file — a tool
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. tube — the underground
  23. capital — a city
  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