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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. game — a match
  4. kid — child
  5. present — the time now
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. craft — a skill
  9. wax — to grow
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. kid — to tease
  12. date — the fruit
  13. game — wild animals
  14. wind — moving air
  15. field — farmland
  16. wind — moving air
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — a subject
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. craft — boats
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. present — there
  24. craft — a handicraft

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