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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. root — of a plant
  5. game — a match
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — for paper
  8. snap — to click
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. spell — magic
  11. clip — a video
  12. game — wild animals
  13. capital — a city
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. root — the cause
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. wax — to grow
  18. capital — money
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. spell — letters
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. root — of a word
  24. patient — a sick person

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