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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. season — in sport
  3. chest — of your body
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. clip — for paper
  6. cell — in biology
  7. race — humankind
  8. land — a country
  9. chest — a box
  10. race — the arms race
  11. land — to come down
  12. cell — a phone
  13. season — of the year
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. chest — of your body
  16. rush — hurry
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. wax — to grow
  20. clip — to cut
  21. land — ground
  22. clip — a video
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. race — a contest

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