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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.

Make a worksheet

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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. march — music
  3. club — for golf
  4. cold — not warm
  5. race — the arms race
  6. cold — an illness
  7. race — a contest
  8. land — a country
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. land — ground
  11. march — the month
  12. club — a group
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. land — to come down
  16. race — humankind
  17. wax — to grow
  18. march — the month

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