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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. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — money
  5. mine — for digging
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. file — a document
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a line of people
  10. rest — what's left
  11. wax — to grow
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rash — hasty
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. rest — a break
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. mine — belonging to me

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