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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. wax — to grow
  3. capital — a city
  4. fall — to drop
  5. rock — a stone
  6. fall — to drop
  7. capital — money
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. rock — music
  16. fall — the season
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. rock — to move gently
  20. chest — a box
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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