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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. court — of a king
  3. cold — an illness
  4. scale — size or range
  5. drill — a practice
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. cold — not warm
  8. plane — a tool
  9. file — a tool
  10. file — a document
  11. swing — in golf
  12. file — a line of people
  13. swing — music
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. wax — to grow
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. drill — the tool
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. court — of law
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. scale — in music
  23. court — for sport
  24. drill — army training

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