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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. spring — a coil
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bear — the animal
  6. spring — of water
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. wax — to grow
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bear — the animal
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. land — a country
  14. bat — the animal
  15. net — after costs
  16. net — for catching
  17. bass — low music
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. land — ground
  22. cold — not warm
  23. land — to come down
  24. net — in sport

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