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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: stock · kid · cap · content · chair · bound · hand · wax

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. wax — to grow
  3. stock — goods
  4. cap — of ice
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. content — happy
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. cap — a hat
  10. stock — shares
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. hand — help
  13. bound — obliged
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. content — the amount
  16. bound — tied together
  17. kid — to tease
  18. cap — a lid
  19. bound — certain
  20. kid — child
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. hand — in cards
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. stock — a soup base

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