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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. date — the fruit
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. hand — help
  5. wax — to grow
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. hand — in cards
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. chest — of your body
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. chest — of your body
  13. march — the month
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. chest — a box
  16. roll — a cake
  17. march — music
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. march — the month
  22. cold — not warm
  23. roll — a list
  24. hand — part of the body

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