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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. hand — in cards
  3. spring — of water
  4. cold — an illness
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. cold — not warm
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. tear — to rip
  11. squash — to crush
  12. tear — from crying
  13. wind — moving air
  14. squash — the sport
  15. hand — help
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. wax — to grow
  20. tear — from crying
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — the season
  24. coach — a trainer

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