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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 office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. chest — of your body
  5. mate — a friend
  6. field — a subject
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. mate — to breed
  9. march — the month
  10. field — for sport
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mate — a partner
  13. chest — a box
  14. wax — to grow
  15. march — the month
  16. staff — employees
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. staff — a stick
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. chest — of your body
  21. march — music
  22. field — farmland
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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