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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. file — a line of people
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. dip — to sink
  6. ground — crushed
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. field — a subject
  10. file — a tool
  11. wax — to grow
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. spring — of water
  14. file — a document
  15. ground — the earth
  16. field — farmland
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. ground — a position
  19. kick — in football
  20. spring — the season
  21. field — for sport
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. wound — an injury
  24. spring — a coil

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