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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 120 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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. march — music
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. clip — to cut
  6. chip — for betting
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. mark — a grade
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. clip — for paper
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. plane — a tool
  15. capital — a city
  16. capital — money
  17. mark — a trace
  18. club — a group
  19. club — for golf
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. wax — to grow
  22. club — for dancing
  23. clip — a video
  24. chip — to eat

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