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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. last — final
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. ground — crushed
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. patient — calm and waiting
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. cell — in biology
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. ground — a position
  15. tube — a container
  16. wax — to grow
  17. last — to go on
  18. last — finally
  19. tube — the underground
  20. cell — a phone
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. chair — a leader
  23. bat — the animal
  24. ground — the earth

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