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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. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. file — a tool
  3. club — for golf
  4. file — a document
  5. club — for dancing
  6. cold — not warm
  7. last — final
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. ground — a position
  10. last — to go on
  11. cold — an illness
  12. last — finally
  13. ground — the earth
  14. ground — crushed
  15. kid — to tease
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. wax — to grow
  18. file — a line of people
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. club — a group
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. kid — child

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