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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: court · wound · last · wax · band · clip · bear · race

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. wound — an injury
  4. clip — for paper
  5. bear — the animal
  6. wax — to grow
  7. band — a ring
  8. race — humankind
  9. wound — an injury
  10. last — finally
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. band — a music group
  13. bear — the animal
  14. race — the arms race
  15. race — a contest
  16. clip — a video
  17. clip — to cut
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. court — of law
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. last — to go on
  23. last — final
  24. wax — in the ear

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