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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 116 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. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. kid — to tease
  3. object — an aim
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. game — wild animals
  6. mate — a partner
  7. cold — an illness
  8. squash — the sport
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. wax — to grow
  15. mate — a friend
  16. squash — to crush
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. game — a match
  20. object — a thing
  21. mate — to breed
  22. cold — not warm
  23. kid — child
  24. object — to protest

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