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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. branch — a division
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. saw — the tool
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. track — to keep track
  8. track — a song
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. land — a country
  11. land — ground
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. saw — the tool
  17. land — to come down
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. track — a path
  21. wind — moving air
  22. fork — in a road
  23. wax — to grow
  24. cold — an illness

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