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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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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: mine · rest · kid · bark · wax · last · scale · race

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. last — final
  3. scale — in music
  4. race — a contest
  5. kid — child
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. wax — to grow
  8. rest — what's left
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. last — to go on
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. bark — to shout
  15. race — humankind
  16. rest — what's left
  17. kid — to tease
  18. last — finally
  19. rest — a break
  20. race — the arms race
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. mine — for digging
  24. mine — belonging to me

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