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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. row — to paddle
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. row — a line
  8. wake — a trail
  9. calf — of the leg
  10. clip — a video
  11. staff — a stick
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. clip — to cut
  17. staff — employees
  18. cold — not warm
  19. wax — to grow
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. wound — an injury
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wax — in the ear

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