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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 116 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. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. row — to paddle
  3. game — wild animals
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. craft — boats
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cold — not warm
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. mark — a trace
  16. game — a match
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. row — a line
  22. mark — a grade
  23. craft — a skill
  24. plane — a tool

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