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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. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. wax — to grow
  3. field — farmland
  4. rash — a series
  5. kid — child
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. mate — a friend
  8. chair — a leader
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. field — a subject
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. mate — to breed
  14. content — happy
  15. content — the amount
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. kid — to tease
  18. tear — from crying
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. rash — hasty
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. tear — to rip
  23. tear — from crying
  24. field — for sport

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