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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. ball — a great time
  4. press — to push
  5. branch — a division
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. mine — for digging
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. press — newspapers
  11. spring — a coil
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. race — the arms race
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. race — a contest
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — the season
  18. ball — a dance
  19. wax — to grow
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. press — a publisher
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. race — humankind

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