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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. pop — to visit
  4. content — the amount
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. pop — music
  7. content — happy
  8. wound — an injury
  9. game — a match
  10. march — music
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wax — to grow
  13. pop — soda
  14. rest — a break
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. rest — what's left
  18. rest — what's left
  19. swing — in golf
  20. swing — music
  21. march — the month
  22. swing — to play on
  23. game — wild animals
  24. march — the month

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