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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: shower · race · net · file · mark · ball · wax · clip

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. race — humankind
  3. file — a line of people
  4. mark — a trace
  5. mark — a grade
  6. ball — a great time
  7. ball — a dance
  8. wax — to grow
  9. clip — a video
  10. race — a contest
  11. file — a tool
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. clip — to cut
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. file — a document
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. clip — for paper
  24. race — the arms race

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