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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 · arm · pitcher · bass · net · ground · land · wax

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. bass — low music
  5. wax — to grow
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. land — a country
  8. net — in sport
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. net — for catching
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. ground — crushed
  13. bass — the fish
  14. land — to come down
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. ground — the earth
  17. chest — a box
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. net — after costs
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. ground — a position
  22. chest — of your body
  23. land — ground
  24. arm — part of the body

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