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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. shower — to wash
  3. snap — to click
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cell — in biology
  8. pit — in a race
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. land — to come down
  11. wax — to grow
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. pit — a hole
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. lie — to recline
  18. clip — for paper
  19. land — ground
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. land — a country
  22. cell — a phone
  23. clip — a video
  24. shower — rain

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