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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. land — ground
  3. sharp — clever
  4. march — music
  5. march — the month
  6. last — final
  7. last — finally
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pit — a hole
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pit — in a race
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. wax — to grow
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. last — to go on
  23. march — the month
  24. land — a country

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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