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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. mate — a partner
  3. kid — child
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. mate — to breed
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. wax — to grow
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. tear — to rip
  10. mate — a friend
  11. spring — the season
  12. capital — a city
  13. tear — from crying
  14. capital — money
  15. last — finally
  16. tear — from crying
  17. last — final
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spring — of water
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. last — to go on

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