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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. tube — the underground
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cap — of ice
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. wax — to grow
  8. face — to confront
  9. face — part of the head
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. face — to point toward
  13. mine — for digging
  14. tube — a container
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. cap — a hat
  18. stem — to come from
  19. band — a ring
  20. cap — a lid
  21. band — a music group
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. clip — a video
  24. tube — in a tire

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