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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. shower — to wash
  3. march — music
  4. clip — to cut
  5. last — finally
  6. clip — a video
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. band — a ring
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. tube — a container
  12. clip — for paper
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. last — final
  15. band — a music group
  16. march — the month
  17. tube — the underground
  18. march — the month
  19. craft — boats
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. craft — a skill
  22. last — to go on
  23. shower — rain
  24. wax — to grow

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