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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. chest — of your body
  4. court — of a king
  5. clip — to cut
  6. mine — for digging
  7. wax — to grow
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. pound — a weight
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. chest — a box
  13. wake — a trail
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. chest — of your body
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. clip — a video
  19. court — for sport
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. court — of law
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. clip — for paper

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