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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: hand · straw · court · wound · race · tear · wake · wax

  1. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. tear — to rip
  3. hand — in cards
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. tear — from crying
  6. race — a contest
  7. court — for sport
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. hand — help
  11. wake — a trail
  12. court — of a king
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. race — the arms race
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wound — an injury
  19. race — humankind
  20. wax — to grow
  21. court — of law
  22. wound — an injury
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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