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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. plane — in geometry
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. scale — in music
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. wax — to grow
  10. rock — music
  11. rock — a stone
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. hand — in cards
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — a subject
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. scale — size or range
  18. hand — help
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. rest — what's left
  21. rest — a break
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. plane — a tool
  24. rest — what's left

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