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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. kid — to tease
  4. wax — to grow
  5. kid — child
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. press — a publisher
  8. press — to push
  9. row — a line
  10. wound — an injury
  11. current — of water
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. current — happening now
  14. wound — an injury
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. press — newspapers
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. row — to paddle
  22. branch — a division
  23. current — electric
  24. branch — of a tree

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