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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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. mug — a cup
  3. season — of the year
  4. mug — to rob
  5. clip — to cut
  6. court — of a king
  7. court — for sport
  8. sharp — clever
  9. clip — a video
  10. bear — the animal
  11. mug — a face
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wax — to grow
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. season — in sport
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. court — of law
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cold — not warm
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. bear — the animal

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