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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. fall — the season
  4. cold — not warm
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. sharp — clever
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. fall — to drop
  9. capital — a city
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. craft — a skill
  12. fall — to drop
  13. craft — boats
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. capital — money
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. cold — an illness

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