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

Word bank: key · court · cell · race · chest · bat · jam · wax

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. chest — a box
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. wax — to grow
  5. court — of law
  6. race — the arms race
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — the animal
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. cell — a phone
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. key — the most important part
  17. key — in music
  18. cell — in biology
  19. key — for a lock
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. race — humankind
  22. chest — of your body
  23. race — a contest
  24. court — of a king

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