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

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. last — final
  4. bat — the animal
  5. cap — a hat
  6. capital — money
  7. present — there
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. kid — to tease
  10. wake — a trail
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. last — finally
  14. last — to go on
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. kid — child
  17. capital — a city
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. wax — to grow
  20. present — the time now
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. cap — of ice
  23. present — a gift
  24. bat — for baseball

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