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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 · last · craft · clip · bore · cold · tube · charge

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. cold — not warm
  3. charge — electricity
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. clip — a video
  6. charge — a price
  7. clip — to cut
  8. tube — a container
  9. bore — to tire
  10. cold — an illness
  11. tube — the underground
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. bore — to drill
  15. craft — a skill
  16. craft — boats
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. charge — in control
  19. last — to go on
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wax — to grow
  23. clip — for paper
  24. last — finally

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