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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. staff — a stick
  3. cue — a hint
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. staff — employees
  6. cue — for pool
  7. cue — a signal
  8. wax — to grow
  9. net — in sport
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. pitch — completely
  14. hand — in cards
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — after costs
  17. land — to come down
  18. file — a line of people
  19. staff — employees
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. land — ground
  24. land — a country

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