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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 hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. branch — a division
  3. hand — in cards
  4. last — final
  5. hand — help
  6. craft — a skill
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. sharp — clever
  11. wax — to grow
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. land — a country
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. craft — boats
  17. tear — from crying
  18. land — ground
  19. land — to come down
  20. last — finally
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. tear — to rip
  24. last — to go on

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