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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.

Make a worksheet

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. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. mine — for digging
  4. spell — letters
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. content — happy
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. spell — magic
  11. wax — to grow
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. content — the amount
  15. lie — to recline
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spell — a short time
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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