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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: tear · wax · swing · field · chip · wind

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. swing — to play on
  3. tear — to rip
  4. wind — moving air
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. field — farmland
  9. wind — moving air
  10. swing — music
  11. field — a subject
  12. field — for sport
  13. swing — in golf
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. chip — for betting
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. chip — to eat
  18. 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