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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. rule — a law
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. shower — to wash
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. wax — to grow
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. row — a line
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. rule — government
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. rash — hasty
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. bat — the animal
  20. rash — a series
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. shower — rain
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. row — to paddle

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