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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. mate — to breed
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. mate — a partner
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. club — for dancing
  9. club — a group
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. bat — the animal
  12. cold — not warm
  13. wind — moving air
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. season — in sport
  16. mate — a friend
  17. wax — to grow
  18. wind — moving air
  19. season — of the year
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — a box
  22. club — for golf
  23. chest — of your body
  24. cold — an illness

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