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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.

Words on the sheet
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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: court · pit · mine · wake · wax · sharp · cold · stem

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. pit — a hole
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. wax — to grow
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. mine — for digging
  11. sharp — clever
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. court — for sport
  14. wake — a trail
  15. stem — to come from
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. court — of law
  23. pit — in a race
  24. court — of a king

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