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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 120 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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. ball — a dance
  5. file — a document
  6. ball — a great time
  7. file — a tool
  8. wound — an injury
  9. tear — to rip
  10. clip — a video
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. tear — from crying
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wound — an injury
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fine — all right
  18. clip — to cut
  19. file — a line of people
  20. tear — from crying
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. clip — for paper
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. wax — to grow

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