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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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  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. perch — for a bird
  2. wake — a trail
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. file — a tool
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. kid — to tease
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — the animal
  13. file — a document
  14. wax — to grow
  15. perch — the fish
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. cold — an illness
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. bass — the fish
  20. bass — low music
  21. kid — child
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. wax — in the ear
  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