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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. kid — child
  3. perch — the fish
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. bass — the fish
  6. march — music
  7. fork — in a road
  8. march — the month
  9. kid — to tease
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. band — a music group
  13. march — the month
  14. band — a ring
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. bass — low music
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. wax — to grow
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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