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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. ground — the earth
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wax — to grow
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. squash — to crush
  8. spell — magic
  9. spell — letters
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. chest — of your body
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. squash — the sport
  16. chest — a box
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. chest — of your body
  21. ground — a position
  22. ground — crushed
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. spell — a short time

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