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

Word bank: last · pound · tear · file · chest · wax

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. wax — to grow
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. last — to go on
  8. file — a document
  9. last — finally
  10. last — final
  11. chest — a box
  12. file — a line of people
  13. chest — of your body
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. chest — of your body
  16. file — a tool
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. pound — a weight

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