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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: wax · band · march · current · chair · cell · pitch · hand

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. chair — a leader
  3. current — happening now
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. march — the month
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. pitch — completely
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. hand — in cards
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. band — a music group
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. wax — to grow
  14. hand — help
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. cell — a phone
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. current — of water
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. march — the month
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. march — music
  23. current — electric
  24. cell — in biology

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