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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 116 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. branch — a division
  7. hand — help
  8. hand — in cards
  9. bound — tied together
  10. rule — a law
  11. kid — to tease
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. wax — to grow
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. rule — government
  21. clip — a video
  22. bound — certain
  23. bound — obliged
  24. lash — an eyelash

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