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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: field · last · pop · wax · tear · cold · march · spell

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. last — finally
  3. cold — an illness
  4. spell — letters
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. pop — music
  7. tear — from crying
  8. march — the month
  9. march — the month
  10. last — to go on
  11. last — final
  12. field — farmland
  13. wax — to grow
  14. field — for sport
  15. field — a subject
  16. march — music
  17. spell — magic
  18. spell — a short time
  19. pop — soda
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. tear — to rip
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pop — to visit

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