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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. last — to go on
  4. can — a tin
  5. squash — to crush
  6. squash — the sport
  7. fall — to drop
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. drill — a practice
  11. fall — the season
  12. plane — a tool
  13. clip — a video
  14. drill — the tool
  15. drill — army training
  16. last — finally
  17. last — final
  18. wax — to grow
  19. can — a tin
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. clip — to cut
  23. can — to be able to
  24. fall — to drop

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