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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: fine · clip · wax · drill · wind · last · bank · bowl

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wax — to grow
  4. bank — for money
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. fine — all right
  8. clip — for paper
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. bank — for money
  12. fine — high quality
  13. last — finally
  14. last — to go on
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. bank — of a river
  19. last — final
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. drill — a practice
  24. clip — a video

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