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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. spring — a coil
  4. bear — the animal
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. spring — of water
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bear — the animal
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. net — in sport
  12. drill — the tool
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. net — after costs
  15. clip — to cut
  16. net — for catching
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. drill — army training
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. clip — for paper
  21. pound — a weight
  22. clip — a video
  23. spring — the season
  24. drill — a practice

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