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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: plane · band · capital · wax · mine · face · stem · present

  1. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. present — a gift
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. present — there
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. wax — to grow
  7. face — to confront
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. face — to point toward
  11. stem — to come from
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. plane — a tool
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. capital — money
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. band — a music group
  20. capital — a city
  21. face — part of the head
  22. band — a ring
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. present — the time now

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