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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 120 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. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. cabinet — ministers
  4. land — a country
  5. content — the amount
  6. clip — to cut
  7. kid — child
  8. land — ground
  9. wax — to grow
  10. content — happy
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. land — to come down
  14. kid — to tease
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — a video
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. bass — low music
  20. bass — the fish
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. ball — a great time
  24. ball — a dance

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