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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 120 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. march — the month
  4. cell — in biology
  5. face — part of the head
  6. drill — a practice
  7. drill — the tool
  8. drill — army training
  9. land — ground
  10. land — a country
  11. land — to come down
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. snap — to click
  14. wax — to grow
  15. cell — a phone
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. face — to confront
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. march — the month
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. face — to point toward
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. bat — the animal
  24. cell — in a prison

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