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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. capital — money
  5. pitch — completely
  6. field — for sport
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. swing — in golf
  9. field — a subject
  10. hand — in cards
  11. bass — the fish
  12. field — farmland
  13. capital — a city
  14. bass — low music
  15. swing — to play on
  16. drill — army training
  17. wax — to grow
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. drill — the tool
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. drill — a practice
  23. swing — music
  24. hand — help

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