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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · bat · track · wax · ground · net · game · row

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. net — for catching
  4. row — a line
  5. chest — a box
  6. game — wild animals
  7. ground — the earth
  8. wax — to grow
  9. track — a song
  10. row — to paddle
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. ground — crushed
  13. net — after costs
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bat — the animal
  16. chest — of your body
  17. ground — a position
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. game — a match
  20. track — to keep track
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. net — in sport
  23. track — a path
  24. row — a quarrel

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