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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. kid — to tease
  3. rock — music
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. land — to come down
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. board — to get on
  8. march — the month
  9. file — a line of people
  10. rock — a stone
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. land — a country
  13. file — a tool
  14. board — a committee
  15. hand — in cards
  16. march — the month
  17. march — music
  18. hand — help
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. kid — child
  21. land — ground
  22. file — a document
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. wax — to grow

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