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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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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 · chair · chest · wake · vault · fall · clip · wax

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. field — for sport
  3. clip — to cut
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. field — farmland
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. chair — a leader
  8. chest — a box
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. fall — the season
  13. wake — a trail
  14. chest — of your body
  15. field — a subject
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. clip — for paper
  18. chest — of your body
  19. fall — to drop
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. fall — to drop
  23. clip — a video
  24. vault — a safe

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