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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. club — for dancing
  5. tube — the underground
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. wax — to grow
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. cold — an illness
  10. chest — a box
  11. fork — in a road
  12. clip — a video
  13. tube — a container
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. clip — for paper
  16. cold — not warm
  17. clip — to cut
  18. chest — of your body
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. chest — of your body
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. club — a group
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. cold — the Cold War

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