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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. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. cold — an illness
  3. row — to paddle
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. row — a line
  6. wax — to grow
  7. cold — not warm
  8. tear — to rip
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. mug — to rob
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mug — a face
  24. mine — for digging

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