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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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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. march — music
  5. chair — a leader
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. content — the amount
  8. march — the month
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. prune — to trim
  14. wax — to grow
  15. content — happy
  16. scale — in music
  17. deal — to handle
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. march — the month
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. scale — size or range
  24. mine — for digging

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