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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 116 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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. wax — to grow
  4. sharp — clever
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. bat — the animal
  8. mark — a trace
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. court — of law
  11. court — for sport
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. field — for sport
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. mark — a grade
  16. field — a subject
  17. court — of a king
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. stem — to come from
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. field — farmland

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