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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. stock — goods
  6. object — an aim
  7. chair — a leader
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. press — to push
  12. object — to protest
  13. wound — an injury
  14. object — a thing
  15. sharp — clever
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. press — a publisher
  18. cell — in biology
  19. wax — to grow
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stock — shares
  23. press — newspapers
  24. cell — a phone

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