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

Word bank: cold · saw · stem · tear · snap · fall · wax · staff

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. staff — employees
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. saw — the tool
  8. cold — an illness
  9. snap — to click
  10. cold — not warm
  11. staff — a stick
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. fall — to drop
  14. tear — from crying
  15. staff — employees
  16. wax — to grow
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. fall — to drop
  20. tear — to rip
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. fall — the season
  23. stem — to come from
  24. tear — from crying

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