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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. tear — from crying
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. file — a document
  6. bound — tied together
  7. wax — to grow
  8. bound — obliged
  9. file — a tool
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. tear — to rip
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. chest — of your body
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. capital — money
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. file — a line of people
  22. capital — a city
  23. bound — certain
  24. date — the fruit

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