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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. wax — to grow
  3. cold — not warm
  4. can — to be able to
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. charge — a price
  8. can — a tin
  9. fall — to drop
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. tear — to rip
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. chip — to eat
  17. tear — from crying
  18. fall — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. chip — for betting
  22. charge — in control
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. charge — electricity

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