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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. scale — in music
  3. capital — money
  4. net — after costs
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. club — for dancing
  7. kid — child
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. net — for catching
  10. club — a group
  11. club — for golf
  12. capital — a city
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. scale — size or range
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. net — in sport
  17. kid — to tease
  18. scale — for weighing

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