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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 120 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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. hide — animal skin
  4. wax — to grow
  5. cold — not warm
  6. field — farmland
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. bass — the fish
  9. field — a subject
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. tear — to rip
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. field — for sport
  17. bass — low music
  18. cold — an illness
  19. branch — a division
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. tear — from crying
  24. perch — the fish

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