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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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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: spring · cap · wound · sharp · wake · pound · tear · wax

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. tear — from crying
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. tear — from crying
  7. pound — for dogs
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. pound — a weight
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. wound — an injury
  12. spring — the season
  13. cap — a lid
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cap — a hat
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. sharp — clever
  19. cap — of ice
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. wax — to grow
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wax — for sculpting

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