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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — a video
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. rash — a series
  8. wind — moving air
  9. chest — of your body
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. clip — to cut
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. wax — to grow
  15. wind — moving air
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — for digging
  18. rash — hasty
  19. wave — a sudden rise
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wave — of the sea

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