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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. track — a song
  5. race — the arms race
  6. fall — to drop
  7. net — in sport
  8. fall — to drop
  9. race — humankind
  10. file — a line of people
  11. tear — to rip
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. tear — from crying
  14. track — to keep track
  15. race — a contest
  16. last — finally
  17. wax — to grow
  18. track — a path
  19. net — after costs
  20. file — a tool
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. net — for catching
  23. tear — from crying
  24. file — a document

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