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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. wax — to grow
  3. roll — a list
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. file — a line of people
  7. content — the amount
  8. rule — government
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. ball — a dance
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. content — happy
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. roll — a cake
  17. file — a tool
  18. shower — rain
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. file — a document
  22. ball — a great time
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. rule — a law

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