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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. face — to confront
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. land — ground
  5. face — part of the head
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. bass — low music
  8. file — a document
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. chair — a leader
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. file — a tool
  15. land — a country
  16. file — a line of people
  17. hand — in cards
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. bass — the fish
  20. wax — to grow
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. hand — help
  24. face — to point toward

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