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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  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 — to grow
  2. can — to be able to
  3. present — a gift
  4. capital — a city
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. present — there
  7. court — for sport
  8. press — a publisher
  9. court — of law
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. press — to push
  12. last — to go on
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. last — final
  16. can — a tin
  17. capital — money
  18. present — the time now
  19. wound — an injury
  20. last — finally
  21. press — newspapers
  22. can — a tin
  23. court — of a king
  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