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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. drill — the tool
  4. current — happening now
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. court — of a king
  7. current — electric
  8. row — a line
  9. court — of law
  10. land — ground
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. drill — a practice
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. wax — to grow
  15. land — to come down
  16. content — the amount
  17. land — a country
  18. current — of water
  19. capital — a city
  20. content — happy
  21. row — to paddle
  22. capital — money
  23. drill — army training
  24. court — for sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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