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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. This piece is in a major ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. key — in music
  3. last — final
  4. bat — the animal
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. present — there
  8. key — the most important part
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. cold — not warm
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. jam — in traffic
  14. last — to go on
  15. key — for a lock
  16. present — a gift
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. ball — a dance
  20. present — the time now
  21. ball — a great time
  22. last — finally
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. bat — in an idiom

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