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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. wind — moving air
  4. spring — the season
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. row — a line
  9. row — to paddle
  10. wind — moving air
  11. rash — a series
  12. spring — a coil
  13. wax — to grow
  14. tube — a container
  15. swing — to play on
  16. rash — hasty
  17. tube — the underground
  18. swing — music
  19. spring — of water
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. swing — in golf

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