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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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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: straw · bay · chest · fall · tube · wax · root · saw

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  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. fall — to drop
  2. tube — the underground
  3. fall — to drop
  4. bay — a part of the sea
  5. chest — a box
  6. saw — the tool
  7. tube — a container
  8. root — the cause
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wax — to grow
  15. chest — of your body
  16. root — of a word
  17. saw — the tool
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. root — of a plant
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. fall — the season
  23. straw — a straw man
  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