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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. kid — child
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. ball — a dance
  6. march — music
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wax — to grow
  10. cold — not warm
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. current — electric
  13. ruler — a monarch
  14. current — happening now
  15. field — a subject
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. field — farmland
  18. field — for sport
  19. current — of water
  20. kid — to tease
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. ball — a great time
  23. march — the month
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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