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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. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  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. wax — for sculpting
  2. object — to protest
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. object — a thing
  6. court — of law
  7. stand — to bear
  8. object — an aim
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. court — of a king
  11. file — a tool
  12. ground — the earth
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. kid — child
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. wax — to grow
  17. kid — to tease
  18. ground — a position
  19. file — a document
  20. ground — crushed
  21. court — for sport
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  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