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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. spring — a coil
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. spring — of water
  9. spring — the season
  10. wax — to grow
  11. toast — bread
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. track — a song
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wind — moving air
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. track — a path
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. track — to keep track
  24. bat — the animal

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