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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. bear — the animal
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. wind — moving air
  7. spell — a short time
  8. spell — magic
  9. bear — to put up with
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. cold — not warm
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bear — the animal
  21. chip — to eat
  22. spell — letters
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. chip — for betting

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