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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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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: wax · race · saw · lash · chair · content · bat · capital

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. race — humankind
  3. chair — a leader
  4. wax — to grow
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. capital — a city
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. bat — the animal
  10. race — a contest
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. content — happy
  13. content — the amount
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. saw — the tool
  18. capital — money
  19. race — the arms race
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. saw — the tool
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. content — videos and posts

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