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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. clip — for paper
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. snap — to click
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wax — to grow
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. row — to paddle
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. rest — what's left
  13. game — wild animals
  14. rest — a break
  15. clip — to cut
  16. game — a match
  17. clip — a video
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. rest — what's left
  22. row — a line
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. hide — animal skin

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