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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 120 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
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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: wax · clip · leaves · bore · squash · capital · bark · field

  1. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to drill
  2. wax — to grow
  3. clip — for paper
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. field — farmland
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. squash — the sport
  8. squash — to crush
  9. capital — a city
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. field — a subject
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. field — for sport
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bore — to tire
  21. bark — to shout
  22. capital — money
  23. clip — a video
  24. leaves — of a tree

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