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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: spell · race · hand · coach · march · current · wax · field

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. wax — to grow
  6. spell — a short time
  7. current — electric
  8. spell — letters
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. field — farmland
  12. hand — in cards
  13. march — music
  14. march — the month
  15. current — of water
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. current — happening now
  20. field — for sport
  21. field — a subject
  22. march — the month
  23. race — the arms race
  24. spell — magic

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