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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The King held a masked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. ball — a great time
  4. wax — to grow
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. march — the month
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. degree — an amount
  10. march — music
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. kid — child
  13. race — humankind
  14. degree — temperature
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. march — the month
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — to tease
  19. degree — from a university
  20. squash — to crush
  21. race — a contest
  22. squash — the sport
  23. race — the arms race
  24. ball — a dance

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