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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. clip — a video
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. mine — for digging
  5. wax — to grow
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. spring — of water
  10. clip — to cut
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. chest — of your body
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. date — the fruit
  20. spring — the season
  21. spring — a coil
  22. clip — for paper
  23. chest — a box
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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