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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. row — to paddle
  3. last — final
  4. row — a line
  5. march — the month
  6. file — a document
  7. scale — size or range
  8. race — the arms race
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. last — finally
  11. capital — a city
  12. march — music
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. wax — to grow
  15. race — humankind
  16. scale — in music
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. file — a line of people
  19. capital — money
  20. march — the month
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. last — to go on
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. file — a tool

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