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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. root — of a word
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fine — all right
  8. bat — the animal
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wax — to grow
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. march — the month
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. fine — high quality
  22. root — the cause
  23. root — of a plant
  24. temple — side of the head

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