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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bear — the animal
  4. land — ground
  5. land — a country
  6. kid — child
  7. wax — to grow
  8. spring — the season
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. branch — a division
  11. present — there
  12. bear — the animal
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. kid — to tease
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. present — a gift
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. hand — in cards
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. spring — of water
  21. hand — help
  22. spring — a coil
  23. bear — to put up with
  24. present — the time now

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