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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. cold — not warm
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. mine — for digging
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. cold — an illness
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. perch — the fish
  11. wax — to grow
  12. rock — a stone
  13. branch — a division
  14. rock — music
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. scale — in music
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. scale — size or range
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. branch — of a bank

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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