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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 120 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: wake · pass · chest · march · fork · last · land · wax

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. march — the month
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. land — ground
  6. land — to come down
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — final
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wax — to grow
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. last — finally
  16. land — a country
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. march — the month
  19. chest — a box
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. fork — in a road
  22. chest — of your body
  23. pass — a permit
  24. wake — a trail

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