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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. face — part of the head
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. wake — a trail
  8. scale — in music
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. face — to confront
  11. clip — for paper
  12. row — to paddle
  13. wax — to grow
  14. row — a line
  15. present — there
  16. present — the time now
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. kick — in football
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. present — a gift
  23. clip — a video
  24. face — to point toward

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