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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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. field — a subject
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. wax — to grow
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. bear — the animal
  10. wound — an injury
  11. march — the month
  12. spring — of water
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bore — to drill
  16. spring — the season
  17. bear — the animal
  18. march — music
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. field — farmland
  21. spring — a coil
  22. bore — to tire
  23. field — for sport
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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