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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: chest · last · chip · chair · wax · nail · wind · march

  1. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. march — the month
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. last — final
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. chip — for betting
  8. wind — moving air
  9. chair — a leader
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. march — music
  13. last — to go on
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. chest — a box
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wax — to grow
  20. last — finally
  21. march — the month
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. chair — a professorship

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