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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 116 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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. kid — to tease
  3. rule — government
  4. kid — child
  5. cold — an illness
  6. band — a ring
  7. bass — the fish
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. band — a music group
  10. club — a group
  11. bass — low music
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. club — for golf
  16. scale — size or range
  17. scale — in music
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. club — for dancing
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. rule — a law
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. cold — not warm

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