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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 124 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — wild animals
  3. band — a music group
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wake — a trail
  6. cold — an illness
  7. row — to paddle
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. pop — music
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pop — to visit
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. band — a ring
  16. rush — hurry
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. pop — soda
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. row — a line
  22. cold — not warm
  23. wax — to grow
  24. wax — in the ear

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