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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 116 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: staff · perch · sharp · wax · bat · cold · content · club

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. bat — the animal
  5. staff — a stick
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. staff — employees
  8. content — happy
  9. wax — to grow
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. perch — the fish
  13. content — the amount
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. cold — an illness
  16. staff — employees
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cold — not warm
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. club — for golf
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. club — a group
  24. perch — for a bird

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