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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. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. shower — rain
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. pass — to spend time
  5. ground — a position
  6. shower — to wash
  7. wax — to grow
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. pass — a permit
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. clip — a video
  12. ground — crushed
  13. ground — the earth
  14. clip — for paper
  15. spring — a coil
  16. pass — to succeed
  17. clip — to cut
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — the season
  20. tube — a container
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. tube — the underground
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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