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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. degree — an amount
  5. face — to confront
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. lean — to bend
  8. rest — what's left
  9. clip — for paper
  10. spell — letters
  11. clip — a video
  12. clip — to cut
  13. mine — for digging
  14. face — part of the head
  15. degree — from a university
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. lean — thin
  18. wax — to grow
  19. spell — a short time
  20. spell — magic
  21. rest — what's left
  22. face — to point toward
  23. degree — temperature
  24. rest — a break

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