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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. pass — a permit
  3. file — a document
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. wax — to grow
  8. kid — child
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. kid — to tease
  12. file — a tool
  13. cold — an illness
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. branch — a division
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. pass — to succeed
  22. file — a line of people
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. cold — not warm

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