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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 120 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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. tear — from crying
  3. clip — to cut
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. pop — soda
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. clip — for paper
  9. rash — hasty
  10. spring — the season
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. tear — to rip
  13. spring — a coil
  14. rash — a series
  15. wax — to grow
  16. pop — music
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. tear — from crying
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. wound — an injury
  21. pop — to visit
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. clip — a video
  24. spring — of water

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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