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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: last · land · content · bark · march · rule · wax · bass

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. last — finally
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. march — the month
  5. bark — to shout
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. content — happy
  8. march — music
  9. rule — a law
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. last — to go on
  12. march — the month
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. bass — the fish
  15. bass — low music
  16. land — to come down
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. land — a country
  20. land — ground
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. rule — government
  23. last — final
  24. wax — to grow

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