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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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. saw — the tool
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. wax — to grow
  6. cap — a lid
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cap — a hat
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. branch — a division
  13. clip — to cut
  14. saw — the tool
  15. bat — the animal
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. cap — of ice
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. clip — a video
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wax — in the ear

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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