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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. fork — in a road
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. race — humankind
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. cold — an illness
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. spring — a coil
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. spring — the season
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. spring — of water
  21. race — a contest
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. race — the arms race
  24. arm — a part of something

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