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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 124 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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. stem — to come from
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. bass — low music
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. spring — a coil
  8. clip — to cut
  9. clip — a video
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. spring — the season
  12. ball — a dance
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. ball — a great time
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. bass — the fish
  22. clip — for paper
  23. spring — of water
  24. stem — of a plant

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