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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. file — a tool
  4. roll — a cake
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. wax — to grow
  7. ground — a position
  8. lean — thin
  9. field — for sport
  10. field — farmland
  11. file — a document
  12. shower — rain
  13. field — a subject
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — to wash
  16. file — a line of people
  17. stock — shares
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. roll — a list
  20. stock — goods
  21. ground — the earth
  22. lean — to bend
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. wax — in the ear

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