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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 124 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 museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. mate — a friend
  4. clip — to cut
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — to visit
  7. clip — a video
  8. wax — to grow
  9. spell — letters
  10. band — a music group
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. spell — a short time
  14. rush — hurry
  15. band — a ring
  16. pop — music
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. mate — a partner
  21. clip — for paper
  22. spell — magic
  23. mate — to breed
  24. straw — a straw man

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