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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. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. clip — for paper
  6. race — humankind
  7. rush — hurry
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. clip — to cut
  14. race — the arms race
  15. wax — to grow
  16. cold — not warm
  17. race — a contest
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bore — to drill
  20. march — the month
  21. ball — a great time
  22. bore — to tire
  23. ball — a dance
  24. clip — a video

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