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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. rash — hasty
  3. mate — a friend
  4. mate — to breed
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. land — ground
  7. fall — to drop
  8. land — a country
  9. wax — to grow
  10. rash — a series
  11. clip — for paper
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. wake — a trail
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. tube — the underground
  16. fall — the season
  17. clip — to cut
  18. land — to come down
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. mate — a partner
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. clip — a video
  23. fall — to drop
  24. tube — a container

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