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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. spell — a short time
  4. spell — magic
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. bark — to shout
  8. wax — to grow
  9. spell — letters
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. kid — child
  16. chair — a leader
  17. plane — a tool
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. clip — a video
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. kid — to tease
  24. chair — a professorship

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