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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. bound — certain
  4. last — final
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wax — to grow
  7. cap — a hat
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. cap — a lid
  11. capital — a city
  12. saw — the tool
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. last — finally
  15. capital — money
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bound — tied together
  18. last — to go on
  19. bound — obliged
  20. tear — to rip
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cap — of ice
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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