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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. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. degree — from a university
  4. bear — the animal
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — to rip
  7. cell — in biology
  8. prune — to trim
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. clip — a video
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bear — the animal
  17. cell — a phone
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. degree — an amount
  20. wax — to grow
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. degree — temperature
  23. clip — for paper
  24. prune — to trim

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