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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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. chest — a box
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. file — a tool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. rest — what's left
  14. rest — a break
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. cold — not warm
  17. file — a document
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. plane — a tool
  20. wax — to grow
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. rush — hurry
  23. chest — of your body
  24. file — a line of people

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