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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. file — a line of people
  4. march — music
  5. rash — a series
  6. clip — to cut
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. wax — to grow
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. race — the arms race
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. race — a contest
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — a video
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. race — humankind
  19. march — the month
  20. file — a document
  21. bat — the animal
  22. march — the month
  23. rash — hasty
  24. clip — for paper

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