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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — to rip
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. fall — the season
  6. charge — a price
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wax — to grow
  13. clip — a video
  14. charge — electricity
  15. fall — to drop
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. charge — in control
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cold — not warm
  20. tear — from crying
  21. fall — to drop
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. clip — for paper

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