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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. bat — the animal
  4. net — in sport
  5. rash — a series
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. band — a ring
  9. band — a music group
  10. wax — to grow
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. march — the month
  14. net — for catching
  15. rash — hasty
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. ball — a great time
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. ball — a dance
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. net — after costs
  23. march — music
  24. band — a rubber band

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