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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. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  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. bank — for money
  2. tear — from crying
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. bank — for money
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. clip — a video
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. cold — an illness
  10. clip — to cut
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. wax — to grow
  13. bank — of a river
  14. spring — of water
  15. tear — to rip
  16. ball — a great time
  17. ball — a dance
  18. stem — to come from
  19. spring — a coil
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. spring — the season
  23. tear — from crying
  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