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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. staff — a stick
  3. mine — for digging
  4. snap — to click
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. cold — not warm
  7. staff — employees
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. wax — to grow
  10. last — final
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. rest — what's left
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. rest — a break
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. last — finally
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. cold — an illness
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. last — to go on
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. rest — what's left

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