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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. ball — a great time
  3. clip — for paper
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. clip — a video
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. last — to go on
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. last — finally
  11. staff — employees
  12. march — music
  13. bark — to shout
  14. staff — a stick
  15. last — final
  16. pass — a permit
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. march — the month
  19. wax — to grow
  20. march — the month
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. staff — employees
  24. clip — to cut

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