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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. fall — to drop
  5. pop — soda
  6. mug — a cup
  7. can — a tin
  8. tear — to rip
  9. bat — the animal
  10. wax — to grow
  11. pop — music
  12. tear — from crying
  13. mug — to rob
  14. can — to be able to
  15. clip — a video
  16. fall — to drop
  17. can — a tin
  18. clip — for paper
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pop — to visit
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. fall — the season
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. mug — a face

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