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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. cell — a phone
  4. lean — to bend
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. row — to paddle
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. tear — to rip
  10. kick — in football
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. tear — from crying
  13. lean — thin
  14. row — a line
  15. band — a ring
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. band — a music group
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. cell — in biology
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. wax — to grow
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. tear — from crying
  24. band — a rubber band

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