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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. clip — a video
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. root — of a word
  7. pop — soda
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. root — of a plant
  11. spring — a coil
  12. hand — help
  13. pop — music
  14. pop — to visit
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wound — an injury
  18. root — the cause
  19. spring — the season
  20. hand — in cards
  21. wax — to grow
  22. clip — to cut
  23. leaves — to go away
  24. clip — for paper

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