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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 116 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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. object — a thing
  3. ground — a position
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. kid — child
  6. ground — the earth
  7. wax — to grow
  8. file — a line of people
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. kid — to tease
  13. hand — help
  14. object — to protest
  15. ground — crushed
  16. file — a document
  17. band — a ring
  18. object — an aim
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. band — a music group
  21. snap — to click
  22. hand — in cards
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. file — a tool

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