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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 moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. last — to go on
  3. mine — for digging
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. swing — to play on
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. clip — for paper
  8. last — final
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. swing — music
  12. spring — the season
  13. swing — in golf
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. spring — of water
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. clip — a video
  19. snap — to click
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. clip — to cut
  23. last — finally
  24. spring — a coil

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