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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: field · bat · wax · coach · saw · chest · wake · cap

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. cap — a lid
  3. saw — the tool
  4. cap — of ice
  5. chest — of your body
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — for sport
  10. saw — the tool
  11. wax — to grow
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. chest — a box
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. wake — a trail
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. field — a subject
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cap — a hat
  24. bat — for baseball

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