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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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. clip — to cut
  3. row — a line
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. clip — a video
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. shower — to wash
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chair — a leader
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. lean — thin
  14. clip — for paper
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. row — to paddle
  20. pit — in a race
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. wax — to grow
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. pit — a hole

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