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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. kid — to tease
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. bat — the animal
  7. kid — child
  8. capital — money
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. saw — the tool
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. shower — rain
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. saw — the tool
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. shower — to wash
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. capital — a city
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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