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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. file — a line of people
  4. file — a tool
  5. field — a subject
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — money
  8. present — the time now
  9. band — a music group
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. field — for sport
  12. toast — bread
  13. band — a ring
  14. race — a contest
  15. file — a document
  16. field — farmland
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. wax — to grow
  19. capital — a city
  20. present — a gift
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. race — the arms race
  24. race — humankind

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