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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. snap — to click
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. rest — what's left
  7. game — wild animals
  8. wound — an injury
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. wound — an injury
  11. branch — a division
  12. rest — a break
  13. land — to come down
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. wax — to grow
  16. mine — for digging
  17. game — a match
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. rest — what's left
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. land — a country
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. land — ground

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