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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. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — to keep at bay
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. date — the fruit
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. chest — of your body
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cold — an illness
  10. land — a country
  11. land — to come down
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. land — ground
  15. chest — a box
  16. content — happy
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. content — the amount
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. wax — to grow
  21. chest — of your body
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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