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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. ground — crushed
  5. field — farmland
  6. field — a subject
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. tear — from crying
  12. rule — a law
  13. clip — for paper
  14. ground — the earth
  15. field — for sport
  16. net — after costs
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. rule — government
  20. tear — to rip
  21. net — for catching
  22. tear — from crying
  23. net — in sport
  24. ground — a position

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