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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: hand · field · row · wax · stem · wave · kid · court

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. court — of a king
  3. kid — child
  4. field — for sport
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — to paddle
  10. row — a line
  11. court — for sport
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. wave — with your hand
  14. field — farmland
  15. hand — in cards
  16. wax — to grow
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. stem — to come from
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. field — a subject
  21. kid — to tease
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. hand — help

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