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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. march — the month
  6. capital — a city
  7. file — a tool
  8. date — the fruit
  9. season — of the year
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. march — music
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. chair — a leader
  14. season — in sport
  15. file — a document
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. wax — to grow
  20. capital — money
  21. file — a line of people
  22. march — the month
  23. stem — to come from
  24. wax — for sculpting

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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