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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 116 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. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. board — to get on
  3. board — a committee
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. saw — the tool
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. net — in sport
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. net — after costs
  12. ground — a position
  13. saw — the tool
  14. shower — to wash
  15. ground — crushed
  16. tear — to rip
  17. ground — the earth
  18. shower — rain
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — from crying
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. net — for catching
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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