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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. spring — the season
  3. last — to go on
  4. tear — to rip
  5. last — finally
  6. spring — of water
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wax — to grow
  9. tube — the underground
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. tear — from crying
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bank — for money
  15. spring — a coil
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. bank — for money
  18. bank — of a river
  19. kick — in football
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. last — final
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tube — a container

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