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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · march · fork · leaves · game · court · last · wax

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. last — to go on
  4. court — of a king
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. game — wild animals
  10. last — finally
  11. court — for sport
  12. cold — an illness
  13. court — of law
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. march — the month
  16. march — music
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. wax — to grow
  20. game — a match
  21. last — final
  22. fork — in a road
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. leaves — of a tree

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