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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: clip · game · coach · wind · chest · wax · court · cap

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. cap — a lid
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. court — of law
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. clip — to cut
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wind — moving air
  10. court — of a king
  11. chest — of your body
  12. clip — a video
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. wind — moving air
  16. game — a match
  17. clip — for paper
  18. game — wild animals
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. court — for sport
  21. cap — of ice
  22. chest — a box
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. wax — to grow

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