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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. fall — to drop
  4. wax — to grow
  5. clip — to cut
  6. prune — to trim
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. fall — to drop
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. lean — thin
  11. tear — to rip
  12. lean — to bend
  13. clip — a video
  14. hand — in cards
  15. tear — from crying
  16. mate — to breed
  17. tear — from crying
  18. clip — for paper
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. hand — help
  21. prune — to trim
  22. fall — the season
  23. mate — a partner
  24. hand — part of the body

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