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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.

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: leaves · clip · perch · sharp · wax · saw · cold · row

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. sharp — clever
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. perch — the fish
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wax — to grow
  7. saw — the tool
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. row — to paddle
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — not warm
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. saw — the tool
  19. row — a line
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. cold — an illness
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. leaves — of a tree

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