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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. wax — to grow
  3. wave — a sudden rise
  4. last — to go on
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. clip — a video
  9. cold — an illness
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. last — finally
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. clip — to cut
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. branch — a division
  24. last — final

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