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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. spring — the season
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. saw — the tool
  5. fine — all right
  6. spell — letters
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mark — a grade
  9. cold — not warm
  10. vault — a safe
  11. spring — a coil
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. spring — of water
  14. fine — high quality
  15. saw — the tool
  16. mark — a trace
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. spell — magic
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. spell — a short time

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