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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. snap — to click
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. bound — tied together
  7. cell — a phone
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. cell — in biology
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. present — the time now
  15. wound — an injury
  16. fork — in a road
  17. bound — obliged
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — rain
  21. present — there
  22. present — a gift
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. wax — to grow

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