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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. kick — in football
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. game — wild animals
  8. stock — shares
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. wax — to grow
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. game — a match
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. chest — of your body
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. chest — a box
  20. mine — for digging
  21. stock — goods
  22. cell — a phone
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. dip — to sink

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