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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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. march — music
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. scale — in music
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. capital — money
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. land — a country
  10. tube — the underground
  11. scale — size or range
  12. land — to come down
  13. capital — a city
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. wax — to grow
  17. march — the month
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. land — ground
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. fork — in a road
  22. bat — the animal
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. march — the month

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