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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. spring — of water
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. game — a match
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. spring — the season
  8. bat — the animal
  9. shower — rain
  10. spring — a coil
  11. file — a line of people
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. shower — to wash
  14. file — a document
  15. game — wild animals
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wax — to grow
  19. file — a tool
  20. present — the time now
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. present — there

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