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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. field — farmland
  7. rule — a law
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. game — a match
  10. scale — size or range
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. scale — in music
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — a subject
  17. game — wild animals
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. rule — government
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. arm — part of the body

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