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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. file — a tool
  4. last — final
  5. capital — a city
  6. stock — shares
  7. stock — goods
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. bass — the fish
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. race — humankind
  12. bore — to drill
  13. wax — to grow
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bass — low music
  17. bore — to tire
  18. last — finally
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. capital — money
  21. file — a document
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. last — to go on
  24. race — the arms race

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