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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  15. When will it ________________ you to start?
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. mate — to breed
  3. tear — to rip
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. suit — clothes
  7. wax — to grow
  8. chest — a box
  9. mate — a friend
  10. land — a country
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. tear — from crying
  14. suit — in cards
  15. suit — to fit
  16. ground — the earth
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mate — a partner
  20. ground — crushed
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. ground — a position
  23. land — to come down
  24. cold — an illness

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