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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. date — the fruit
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. wax — to grow
  6. land — ground
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. present — a gift
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. roll — a cake
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. file — a document
  15. present — the time now
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. scale — in music
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. present — there
  20. file — a tool
  21. scale — size or range
  22. file — a line of people
  23. roll — a list
  24. land — to come down

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