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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: snap · wind · game · tube · clip · rock · bat · wax

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. rock — music
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. tube — a container
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. clip — a video
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. clip — to cut
  10. wind — moving air
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. game — a match
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. game — wild animals
  19. tube — the underground
  20. wind — moving air
  21. snap — to click
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. rock — a stone
  24. bat — in an idiom

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