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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. ground — crushed
  3. can — to be able to
  4. mate — to breed
  5. wax — to grow
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. court — for sport
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. mate — a friend
  10. court — of a king
  11. hand — help
  12. can — a tin
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — farmland
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. mate — a partner
  17. hand — in cards
  18. ground — a position
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. field — a subject
  21. ground — the earth
  22. court — of law
  23. bat — the animal
  24. can — a tin

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