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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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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 · content · straw · race · row · march · wax · pit

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. row — a line
  3. pit — in a race
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. last — to go on
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. march — music
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. row — to paddle
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. pit — a hole
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. race — humankind
  17. march — the month
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — the arms race
  20. last — final
  21. wax — to grow
  22. march — the month
  23. content — happy
  24. last — finally

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