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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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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: wax · arm · clip · nail · tear · jam · press · cold

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Did you ________________ the button?
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. tear — from crying
  3. wax — to grow
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. tear — to rip
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. clip — for paper
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. cold — not warm
  14. press — newspapers
  15. jam — to spread on bread
  16. press — a publisher
  17. clip — to cut
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. cold — an illness
  20. clip — a video
  21. tear — from crying
  22. press — to push
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. nail — for a hammer

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