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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 116 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
468
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: perch · hide · mine · saw · cold · straw · ground · wax

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ground — crushed
  4. ground — a position
  5. saw — the tool
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. mine — for digging
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. hide — animal skin
  15. ground — the earth
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. perch — the fish
  20. cold — an illness
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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