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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.

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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: last · spell · wax · capital · hand · degree · staff · pound

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. degree — an amount
  3. staff — employees
  4. pound — a weight
  5. staff — a stick
  6. hand — in cards
  7. spell — a short time
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. staff — employees
  10. hand — help
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. wax — to grow
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. spell — magic
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — temperature
  18. capital — a city
  19. last — to go on
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. last — final
  22. last — finally
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. pound — for dogs

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