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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. staff — a stick
  4. march — the month
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — a video
  8. wax — to grow
  9. race — the arms race
  10. march — music
  11. race — a contest
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mine — for digging
  14. march — the month
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. race — humankind
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. game — a match
  21. staff — employees
  22. game — wild animals
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. game — a kind of play

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