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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. band — a music group
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. spring — of water
  8. capital — money
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. spring — the season
  12. bear — the animal
  13. court — of a king
  14. capital — a city
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. wax — to grow
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. court — of law
  19. spring — a coil
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. bear — the animal
  22. band — a ring
  23. court — for sport
  24. band — a rubber band

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