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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 120 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. season — of the year
  3. row — a line
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. kid — child
  7. face — part of the head
  8. row — to paddle
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. face — to confront
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. season — in sport
  13. wax — to grow
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. kid — to tease
  20. bat — the animal
  21. face — to point toward
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. shower — rain
  24. stand — to bear

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