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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. vault — a safe
  3. file — a tool
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. capital — money
  6. file — a document
  7. file — a line of people
  8. field — for sport
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. fall — to drop
  12. wax — to grow
  13. capital — a city
  14. field — farmland
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. field — a subject
  18. date — the fruit
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. fall — the season
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. fall — to drop

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