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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: pitch · wax · capital · land · cold · ruler · wind · hand

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. land — a country
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. land — ground
  12. cold — not warm
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — a city
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. hand — in cards
  19. wax — to grow
  20. pitch — completely
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. hand — help
  23. wind — moving air
  24. land — to come down

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