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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. My mare is ________________ in color.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. spring — the season
  4. bay — to keep at bay
  5. wax — to grow
  6. pop — music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. bay — a horse colour
  10. pop — to visit
  11. last — to go on
  12. scale — size or range
  13. last — finally
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. scale — in music
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. pop — soda
  20. cold — an illness
  21. spring — of water
  22. last — final
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wax — in the ear

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