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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 moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. march — the month
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. chip — for betting
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. wound — an injury
  15. march — music
  16. content — happy
  17. chip — to eat
  18. land — ground
  19. land — a country
  20. land — to come down
  21. wound — an injury
  22. march — the month
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. content — the amount

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