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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. scale — in music
  3. clip — a video
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. march — the month
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. jam — a tight spot
  8. roll — a list
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. march — music
  13. clip — for paper
  14. roll — a cake
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. scale — size or range
  17. clip — to cut
  18. march — the month
  19. shower — rain
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. wax — to grow

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