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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. cold — an illness
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. field — a subject
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. wax — to grow
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — to tease
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. scale — in music
  16. field — for sport
  17. key — the most important part
  18. ball — a great time
  19. key — in music
  20. scale — size or range
  21. field — farmland
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. key — for a lock
  24. cold — not warm

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