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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: straw · clip · kid · wax · season · calf · tear · root

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. root — of a word
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. kid — child
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. season — of the year
  10. tear — to rip
  11. kid — to tease
  12. clip — for paper
  13. tear — from crying
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. wax — to grow
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. root — the cause
  18. season — in sport
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. root — of a plant

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