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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: wax · court · branch · content · rest · land · rush · march

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. court — for sport
  3. land — a country
  4. court — of law
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. content — the amount
  7. wax — to grow
  8. rush — hurry
  9. branch — a division
  10. land — to come down
  11. court — of a king
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. rest — what's left
  17. rest — what's left
  18. content — happy
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. land — ground
  21. march — the month
  22. march — music
  23. march — the month
  24. rush — a thrill

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