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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. clip — a video
  4. wax — to grow
  5. clip — to cut
  6. ball — a dance
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. march — music
  9. march — the month
  10. bore — to tire
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. clip — for paper
  14. spring — the season
  15. bore — to drill
  16. march — the month
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cold — not warm
  19. ball — a great time
  20. cold — an illness
  21. wake — a trail
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. spring — of water
  24. wax — for sculpting

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