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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 band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. squash — the sport
  3. wax — to grow
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — an injury
  7. march — the month
  8. stem — to come from
  9. clip — for paper
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. rash — a series
  12. press — a publisher
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. press — to push
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. rash — hasty
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. press — newspapers
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. squash — to crush
  21. clip — to cut
  22. clip — a video
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. march — the month

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