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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. sharp — clever
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. band — a music group
  5. march — music
  6. court — of a king
  7. ground — the earth
  8. court — for sport
  9. ground — crushed
  10. march — the month
  11. wax — to grow
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. tube — the underground
  14. court — of law
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. march — the month
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. fork — in a road
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. tube — a container
  22. ground — a position
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. sharp — with an edge

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