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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. capital — money
  4. can — to be able to
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. can — a tin
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. cold — not warm
  11. charge — electricity
  12. wax — to grow
  13. can — a tin
  14. cold — an illness
  15. charge — a price
  16. march — the month
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. march — music
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. march — the month
  21. lean — to bend
  22. capital — a city
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. charge — in control

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