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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. roll — a cake
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. spring — of water
  7. court — for sport
  8. spring — a coil
  9. wind — moving air
  10. rule — a law
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. roll — a list
  14. spring — the season
  15. branch — a division
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. wax — to grow
  18. rule — government
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. court — of a king
  24. court — of law

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