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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. mine — for digging
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. tear — from crying
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. tube — the underground
  8. present — there
  9. tear — from crying
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. tube — a container
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. roll — a list
  14. present — the time now
  15. present — a gift
  16. spring — of water
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. spring — a coil
  20. spring — the season
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. tear — to rip
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. roll — a cake

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