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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 seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. content — the amount
  4. season — in sport
  5. swing — to play on
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. swing — in golf
  8. wax — to grow
  9. band — a music group
  10. content — happy
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. swing — music
  15. clip — for paper
  16. band — a ring
  17. clip — a video
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. season — of the year
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. pound — a weight

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