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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: game · wax · capital · wound · bat · snap · march · racket

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. march — the month
  3. march — music
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. wound — an injury
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. wax — to grow
  8. game — a match
  9. game — wild animals
  10. snap — to click
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. capital — a city
  13. march — the month
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. bat — the animal
  23. capital — money
  24. racket — for tennis

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