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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. wax — to grow
  3. track — a song
  4. snap — to click
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. face — to point toward
  7. perch — the fish
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. track — to keep track
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. track — a path
  12. last — finally
  13. spring — the season
  14. face — part of the head
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. content — happy
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. content — the amount
  20. face — to confront
  21. spring — of water
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. last — final
  24. last — to go on

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