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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. tube — the underground
  3. tube — a container
  4. cue — a hint
  5. wax — to grow
  6. clip — a video
  7. tear — from crying
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. clip — to cut
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. pit — a hole
  16. cue — for pool
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cue — a signal
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pit — in a race
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. tear — to rip

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