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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: bay · tear · race · wax · clip · spring · march · prune

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  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. bay — a horse colour
  2. spring — the season
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. spring — of water
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. clip — to cut
  7. race — the arms race
  8. clip — for paper
  9. wax — to grow
  10. march — the month
  11. tear — from crying
  12. march — the month
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. race — a contest
  15. spring — a coil
  16. prune — to trim
  17. clip — a video
  18. tear — to rip
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. race — humankind
  22. prune — to trim
  23. march — music
  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