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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: cap · snap · wave · cold · wax · wind · bark · straw

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wave — of the sea
  3. snap — to click
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. cap — of ice
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cap — a hat
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wax — to grow
  11. cap — a lid
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. bark — to shout

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