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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rash — a series
  3. band — a music group
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. rash — hasty
  6. march — the month
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. pitch — completely
  10. march — music
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. band — a ring
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. march — the month
  16. tube — the underground
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. scale — in music
  19. wax — to grow
  20. tube — a container
  21. scale — size or range
  22. cold — an illness
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. pitch — a sports field

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