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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. snap — to click
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. bass — low music
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. spring — a coil
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. bass — the fish
  11. wax — to grow
  12. kid — child
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. sharp — clever
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. perch — the fish
  21. spring — the season
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. perch — for a bird

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