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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. tube — the underground
  5. file — a document
  6. bear — the animal
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. clip — for paper
  10. tube — a container
  11. fall — to drop
  12. bear — the animal
  13. fall — to drop
  14. fall — the season
  15. clip — to cut
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. last — final
  19. last — to go on
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. file — a tool
  22. wax — to grow
  23. file — a line of people
  24. clip — a video

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