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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. land — ground
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. sharp — clever
  8. chair — a leader
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. land — to come down
  12. wax — to grow
  13. cold — an illness
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. land — a country
  18. chest — of your body
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. chest — a box
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. plane — a tool

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