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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 116 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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. march — music
  5. march — the month
  6. clip — to cut
  7. pop — soda
  8. march — the month
  9. bank — for money
  10. pop — music
  11. last — final
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. wax — to grow
  15. mine — for digging
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. bank — of a river
  19. last — to go on
  20. last — finally
  21. bank — for money
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — for paper
  24. mine — an explosive

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