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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: cue · ground · swing · bat · spring · straw · wax · land

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. bat — the animal
  3. land — to come down
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. wax — to grow
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. spring — a coil
  9. spring — the season
  10. swing — in golf
  11. land — a country
  12. swing — music
  13. swing — to play on
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. cue — a signal
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. cue — a hint
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. ground — crushed
  21. ground — a position
  22. cue — for pool
  23. spring — of water
  24. ground — the earth

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