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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 124 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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. band — a ring
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. kid — to tease
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wax — to grow
  8. land — to come down
  9. tear — from crying
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spring — the season
  12. kid — child
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. snap — to click
  16. spring — of water
  17. tear — to rip
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. spring — a coil
  21. land — ground
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. band — a music group
  24. wound — an injury

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