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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. last — final
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. march — the month
  5. wax — to grow
  6. last — finally
  7. nail — on a finger
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. last — to go on
  12. march — music
  13. spring — the season
  14. shower — rain
  15. spring — a coil
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. row — to paddle
  18. march — the month
  19. row — a line
  20. spring — of water
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. shower — to wash

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