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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. band — a music group
  3. prune — to trim
  4. race — humankind
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. face — to confront
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. clip — a video
  9. face — part of the head
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. face — to point toward
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. wax — to grow
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. clip — to cut
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bat — the animal
  21. cell — a phone
  22. band — a ring
  23. race — a contest
  24. race — the arms race

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