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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. snap — to click
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. content — the amount
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. wax — to grow
  10. row — a line
  11. deal — an agreement
  12. clip — for paper
  13. row — to paddle
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. clip — a video
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. deal — to handle
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. clip — to cut
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. row — a quarrel

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