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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. object — to protest
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. snap — to click
  8. object — a thing
  9. wax — to grow
  10. object — an aim
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. march — music
  13. wake — a trail
  14. hand — in cards
  15. present — the time now
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. capital — money
  18. present — there
  19. present — a gift
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. march — the month
  23. march — the month
  24. hand — help

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