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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. snap — to click
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. current — of water
  6. wax — to grow
  7. tube — the underground
  8. wound — an injury
  9. chest — of your body
  10. wind — moving air
  11. current — happening now
  12. wound — an injury
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. chest — a box
  15. current — electric
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. tube — a container
  20. mine — for digging
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. chest — of your body
  24. mine — belonging to me

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