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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. wax — to grow
  3. land — to come down
  4. rash — hasty
  5. clip — to cut
  6. rest — what's left
  7. bulb — for light
  8. land — a country
  9. march — music
  10. land — ground
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. march — the month
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bulb — for light
  16. spring — of water
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rest — a break
  19. rash — a series
  20. rest — what's left
  21. clip — a video
  22. march — the month
  23. spring — the season
  24. bulb — of a plant

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