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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. board — to get on
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. march — music
  7. row — to paddle
  8. ball — a great time
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. row — a line
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. ball — a dance
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. board — a committee
  24. cold — not warm

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