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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. rule — government
  4. file — a line of people
  5. track — to keep track
  6. track — a path
  7. march — music
  8. capital — a city
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. hand — in cards
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. file — a document
  13. rule — a law
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. wax — to grow
  17. file — a tool
  18. march — the month
  19. track — a song
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. hand — help
  22. march — the month
  23. bat — the animal
  24. capital — money

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