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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. drill — the tool
  3. capital — a city
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. file — a tool
  7. capital — money
  8. drill — army training
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. file — a document
  12. cell — in biology
  13. drill — a practice
  14. file — a line of people
  15. rock — a stone
  16. wax — to grow
  17. shower — rain
  18. bear — the animal
  19. rock — music
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cell — a phone
  22. bear — the animal
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. shower — to wash

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