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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: stick · chair · hand · hide · clip · tear · spring · wax

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. hand — help
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. hand — in cards
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. spring — of water
  11. clip — for paper
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. tear — from crying
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. spring — the season
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. wax — to grow
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. spring — a coil
  21. clip — a video
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. clip — to cut
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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