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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. race — the arms race
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. bark — to shout
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. land — a country
  10. race — a contest
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. race — humankind
  13. wax — to grow
  14. march — the month
  15. march — the month
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. march — music
  18. land — ground

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