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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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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: hand · scale · wax · stem · roll · march · wound · chest

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. march — the month
  5. march — music
  6. wax — to grow
  7. chest — of your body
  8. hand — in cards
  9. march — the month
  10. scale — in music
  11. stem — to come from
  12. wound — an injury
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chest — a box
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. roll — a list
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. hand — help
  21. roll — a cake
  22. scale — size or range
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. wound — an injury

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