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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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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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. clip — to cut
  3. tear — to rip
  4. wax — to grow
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. rest — what's left
  7. chair — a leader
  8. tear — from crying
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. rest — what's left
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. band — a music group
  16. rest — a break
  17. clip — a video
  18. chest — a box
  19. tear — from crying
  20. band — a ring
  21. clip — for paper
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. wake — a trail

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