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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.

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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 · racket · cold · bore · sharp · wind · tear · spring

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. spring — a coil
  3. bore — to drill
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. bore — to tire
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. spring — the season
  13. tear — to rip
  14. tear — from crying
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. wax — to grow
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. spring — of water
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. sharp — clever
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. tear — from crying
  24. cold — an illness

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