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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 120 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: court · wax · clip · spell · spring · present · last · craft

  1. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. spell — magic
  5. last — final
  6. clip — a video
  7. spell — a short time
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. last — finally
  10. craft — boats
  11. spell — letters
  12. craft — a skill
  13. court — for sport
  14. spring — a coil
  15. present — there
  16. spring — the season
  17. last — to go on
  18. present — a gift
  19. spring — of water
  20. court — of a king
  21. wax — to grow
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — to cut
  24. court — of law

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