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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.

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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: bore · land · wax · last · spring · bowl · game · tear

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. game — a match
  3. tear — from crying
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. bore — gave birth
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. bore — to tire
  8. wax — to grow
  9. spring — of water
  10. game — wild animals
  11. bore — to drill
  12. spring — a coil
  13. tear — to rip
  14. land — ground
  15. spring — the season
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. last — finally
  18. land — a country
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. land — to come down
  21. last — to go on
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. tear — from crying

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