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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. stock — goods
  3. field — a subject
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wax — to grow
  6. stock — shares
  7. file — a document
  8. plane — a tool
  9. charge — electricity
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. charge — in control
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. field — for sport
  19. bat — the animal
  20. stock — a soup base
  21. field — farmland
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. file — a tool
  24. charge — a price

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