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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 120 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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. fine — high quality
  3. staff — employees
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. wax — to grow
  7. fine — a penalty
  8. plane — a tool
  9. fall — to drop
  10. spell — letters
  11. kid — to tease
  12. spell — a short time
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. kid — child
  15. staff — employees
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. spell — magic
  18. fall — the season
  19. fall — to drop
  20. staff — a stick
  21. capital — money
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. capital — a city

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