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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 120 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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. scale — in music
  3. scale — size or range
  4. cold — not warm
  5. club — for golf
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. race — a contest
  11. object — a thing
  12. race — humankind
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. wax — to grow
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. race — the arms race
  17. object — to protest
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. march — the month
  20. object — an aim
  21. cold — an illness
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. club — a group

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