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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. clip — for paper
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. drill — army training
  5. wind — moving air
  6. drill — the tool
  7. tear — from crying
  8. wax — to grow
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. hand — in cards
  11. file — a tool
  12. drill — a practice
  13. tear — to rip
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — a video
  17. file — a document
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a line of people
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. fork — in a road
  23. hand — help
  24. tear — from crying

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