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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — to grow
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. spring — the season
  6. cold — an illness
  7. file — a line of people
  8. spring — a coil
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. fine — all right
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — to wash
  17. file — a tool
  18. fine — high quality
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. lie — to recline
  24. file — a document

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