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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: prune · wind · wax · fall · chair · capital · current · scale

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. wind — moving air
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. scale — size or range
  7. wind — moving air
  8. current — electric
  9. wax — to grow
  10. fall — to drop
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. fall — the season
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. current — of water
  16. prune — to trim
  17. fall — to drop
  18. capital — money
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. chair — a leader
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. current — happening now
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. scale — in music

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