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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: hand · chip · bat · snap · wax · mine · season · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. hand — in cards
  4. wax — to grow
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. hand — help
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. season — in sport
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. content — happy
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. chip — to eat
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. chip — for betting
  18. mine — for digging
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. season — of the year
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. bat — the animal
  24. snap — to click

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