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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. club — for golf
  5. race — the arms race
  6. sharp — clever
  7. race — a contest
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. race — humankind
  11. club — a group
  12. wax — to grow
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. club — for dancing
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. vault — a safe
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wax — for sculpting

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