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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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Word bank
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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: vault · pitcher · dip · root · cold · row · wax · clip

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. dip — to sink
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. cold — an illness
  7. row — to paddle
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. clip — a video
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. root — the cause
  12. vault — a safe
  13. clip — for paper
  14. root — of a plant
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. row — a line
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. root — of a word
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. clip — to cut

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