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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. can — a tin
  3. wax — to grow
  4. row — to paddle
  5. can — a tin
  6. row — a line
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. last — to go on
  9. clip — for paper
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. spring — of water
  14. cold — an illness
  15. can — to be able to
  16. last — final
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — a video
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. cold — not warm
  23. spring — the season
  24. last — finally

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