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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.

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: capital · cold · key · wax · foot · chest · mine · date

  1. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. chest — a box
  4. foot — a measure
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. wax — to grow
  7. key — the most important part
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. chest — of your body
  10. mine — for digging
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. chest — of your body
  14. capital — money
  15. date — the fruit
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. key — in music
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. cold — not warm
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. capital — a city
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wax — in the ear

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