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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: clip · saw · suit · arm · bore · cold · wax · rush

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  10. When will it ________________ you to start?
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. cold — not warm
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. bore — to drill
  9. suit — in cards
  10. suit — to fit
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. wax — to grow
  14. rush — hurry
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. bore — to tire
  17. suit — clothes
  18. saw — the tool
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. clip — to cut
  21. saw — the tool
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — a video
  24. cold — an illness

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