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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 drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. pop — soda
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. pitch — completely
  8. chip — to eat
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pop — music
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. roll — a cake
  13. cold — an illness
  14. roll — a list
  15. wax — to grow
  16. wound — an injury
  17. pop — to visit
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. chip — for betting
  21. wound — an injury
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. pitch — a sports field

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