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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 120 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. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — a container
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. row — a line
  4. tube — the underground
  5. scale — in music
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. wax — to grow
  9. row — to paddle
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. dip — to sink
  14. kid — child
  15. scale — size or range
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. march — the month
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. kid — to tease
  21. mark — a trace
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. mark — a grade

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