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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  5. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. object — a thing
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. tear — to rip
  10. chest — of your body
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. tear — from crying
  13. shower — rain
  14. chest — a box
  15. safe — a strongbox
  16. tear — from crying
  17. object — to protest
  18. hand — in cards
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. wound — an injury
  21. object — an aim
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. shower — to wash
  24. chest — of your body

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