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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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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: court · wax · net · content · squash · wind · present · tear

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. squash — to crush
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. wind — moving air
  5. court — of a king
  6. tear — from crying
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. court — of law
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. net — after costs
  12. net — in sport
  13. present — a gift
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. content — the amount
  17. tear — from crying
  18. content — happy
  19. present — the time now
  20. tear — to rip
  21. squash — the sport
  22. present — there
  23. net — for catching
  24. court — for sport

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