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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 120 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: bass · court · track · capital · board · wax · scale · shower

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. track — a song
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. capital — a city
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. court — of law
  8. bass — the fish
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. shower — to wash
  11. board — a committee
  12. bass — low music
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. track — a path
  15. shower — rain
  16. scale — in music
  17. scale — size or range
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. board — to get on
  20. track — to keep track
  21. wax — to grow
  22. court — of a king
  23. capital — money
  24. court — for sport

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