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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 120 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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. rock — music
  3. cell — a phone
  4. tear — from crying
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. tear — to rip
  7. bat — the animal
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. rock — a stone
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. wax — to grow
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cell — in biology
  24. trunk — of a car

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