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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bank — for money
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. court — of law
  6. capital — money
  7. tear — from crying
  8. tear — from crying
  9. scale — in music
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. court — of a king
  12. scale — size or range
  13. capital — a city
  14. bank — of a river
  15. file — a line of people
  16. bank — for money
  17. wax — to grow
  18. wake — a trail
  19. file — a document
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. court — for sport
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. tear — to rip
  24. file — a tool

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