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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — not warm
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. stock — shares
  5. degree — from a university
  6. scale — in music
  7. degree — temperature
  8. march — music
  9. chair — a leader
  10. bay — to keep at bay
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. stock — goods
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. wax — to grow
  18. scale — size or range
  19. degree — an amount
  20. march — the month
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. cold — the Cold War

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