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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. hand — help
  3. spring — of water
  4. mug — a face
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wax — to grow
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. mug — a cup
  10. squash — to crush
  11. squash — the sport
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. mug — to rob
  14. spring — the season
  15. clip — a video
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. hand — in cards
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. spring — a coil

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