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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 116 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 moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. land — to come down
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. board — to get on
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. fine — high quality
  8. land — ground
  9. land — a country
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fine — all right
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. wind — moving air
  16. tube — the underground
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cold — not warm
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. board — a committee
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. tube — a container
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. board — a flat piece

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