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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. kid — child
  3. row — a line
  4. wake — a trail
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. file — a line of people
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. row — to paddle
  15. clip — for paper
  16. face — to confront
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a tool
  19. clip — to cut
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. wax — to grow
  23. face — to point toward
  24. clip — a video

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