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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. I don't want to ________________ the boat.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bass — low music
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. game — wild animals
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. bass — the fish
  8. rock — a stone
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. branch — a division
  11. wind — moving air
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. game — a match
  14. march — the month
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. march — the month
  19. wind — moving air
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. march — music
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. wax — to grow
  24. rock — to move gently

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