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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
468
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: clip · cold · dip · wax · shower · capital · bore · wake

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. shower — to wash
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. clip — to cut
  8. clip — a video
  9. dip — to sink
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. wake — a trail
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. shower — rain
  14. cold — an illness
  15. clip — for paper
  16. capital — money
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. bore — to tire
  20. bore — to drill
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. wax — to grow
  23. capital — a city
  24. cold — not warm

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