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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. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. clip — for paper
  3. club — for golf
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. clip — to cut
  7. lean — to bend
  8. clip — a video
  9. hand — help
  10. mine — for digging
  11. ground — a position
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. club — for dancing
  15. hand — in cards
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. sharp — clever
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. wax — to grow
  20. ground — crushed
  21. club — a group
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. ground — the earth
  24. lean — thin

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