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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: march · fan · cell · ball · wax · land · last · bowl

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. ball — a great time
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. march — the month
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. march — music
  8. land — ground
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. last — finally
  11. march — the month
  12. last — final
  13. cell — a phone
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. ball — a dance
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. cell — in biology
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. last — to go on
  23. land — a country
  24. land — to come down

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