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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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. march — the month
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. game — wild animals
  6. march — music
  7. land — to come down
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. clip — a video
  10. last — finally
  11. clip — to cut
  12. race — a contest
  13. last — to go on
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. race — the arms race
  17. march — the month
  18. land — a country
  19. game — a match
  20. wax — to grow
  21. race — humankind
  22. clip — for paper
  23. land — ground
  24. last — final

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