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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: wax · nail · spring · bank · cold · mug · clip · rock

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. clip — for paper
  3. rock — music
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bank — for money
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. bank — for money
  14. mug — a face
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mug — to rob
  18. bank — of a river
  19. wax — to grow
  20. spring — the season
  21. mug — a cup
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rock — a stone

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