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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: wax · kid · pop · bat · board · court · wound · tear

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  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. board — a flat piece
  2. tear — to rip
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. kid — child
  5. pop — music
  6. tear — from crying
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. court — for sport
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. court — of a king
  11. board — to get on
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. pop — soda
  14. court — of law
  15. wound — an injury
  16. kid — to tease
  17. wax — to grow
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. pop — to visit
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bat — the animal
  22. board — a committee
  23. wound — an injury
  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