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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cue — a signal
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. land — to come down
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. chest — of your body
  7. land — ground
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. wound — an injury
  10. clip — to cut
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wax — to grow
  14. cue — for pool
  15. last — to go on
  16. foot — a measure
  17. land — a country
  18. wound — an injury
  19. chest — a box
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — for paper
  22. cue — a hint
  23. last — finally
  24. foot — the bottom

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