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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. scale — size or range
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. tear — from crying
  7. scale — in music
  8. wound — an injury
  9. date — the fruit
  10. wax — to grow
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. march — the month
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. march — music
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. march — the month
  23. tear — to rip
  24. scale — for weighing

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