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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: drill · court · sharp · file · cell · ground · rash · wax

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. court — of a king
  3. ground — a position
  4. ground — the earth
  5. court — of law
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. file — a tool
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — a series
  12. drill — a practice
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. sharp — clever
  15. court — for sport
  16. drill — army training
  17. drill — the tool
  18. wax — to grow
  19. file — a line of people
  20. cell — a phone
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. cell — in biology
  23. ground — crushed
  24. file — a document

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