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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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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: wound · present · bay · mate · kid · scale · wax · march

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. mate — a partner
  4. mate — a friend
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. scale — in music
  7. march — the month
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. march — music
  11. scale — size or range
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. present — the time now
  14. kid — child
  15. present — a gift
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. mate — to breed
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. march — the month
  21. wax — to grow
  22. present — there
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. wax — for sculpting

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