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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. march — the month
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. lean — to bend
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. lean — thin
  8. stock — goods
  9. tear — from crying
  10. stock — shares
  11. clip — for paper
  12. ground — crushed
  13. wax — to grow
  14. drill — army training
  15. clip — to cut
  16. march — the month
  17. drill — the tool
  18. clip — a video
  19. march — music
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. ground — a position
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. ground — the earth

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