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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. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. spring — a coil
  4. bulb — for light
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. content — happy
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. game — wild animals
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. spring — of water
  14. pit — a hole
  15. row — a line
  16. content — the amount
  17. pitch — completely
  18. wax — to grow
  19. row — to paddle
  20. pit — in a race
  21. spring — the season
  22. bulb — for light
  23. game — a match
  24. bulb — of a plant

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