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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. lean — thin
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. wax — to grow
  5. file — a line of people
  6. bear — the animal
  7. squash — to crush
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. spring — a coil
  13. bear — the animal
  14. file — a tool
  15. file — a document
  16. plane — a tool
  17. spring — of water
  18. lean — to bend
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. spring — the season
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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