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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 ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. mine — for digging
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. pit — a hole
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. spring — of water
  10. drill — a practice
  11. pit — in a race
  12. band — a music group
  13. spring — the season
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. spring — a coil
  17. band — a ring
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. drill — the tool
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. drill — army training

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