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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: game · wax · pitcher · content · fall · arm · ground · row

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. fall — to drop
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. wax — to grow
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. game — wild animals
  9. row — to paddle
  10. ground — a position
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. game — a match
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. content — the amount
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. ground — the earth
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. fall — to drop
  20. fall — the season
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. row — a line
  24. ground — crushed

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