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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 120 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: trunk · march · bound · wax · court · shower · hand · tube

  1. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. I'll be taking the ________________.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. tube — the underground
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. bound — certain
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. court — for sport
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. court — of law
  10. bound — obliged
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. tube — a container
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. hand — help
  15. bound — tied together
  16. march — the month
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. hand — in cards
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. wax — to grow
  22. court — of a king
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — rain

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