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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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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: court · cue · march · wound · pound · wax · clip · foot

  1. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a hint
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. march — the month
  4. clip — a video
  5. court — for sport
  6. court — of law
  7. foot — the bottom
  8. cue — a signal
  9. march — the month
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. foot — a measure
  13. wound — an injury
  14. court — of a king
  15. cue — for pool
  16. clip — for paper
  17. pound — a weight
  18. march — music
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. wax — to grow
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. wound — an injury

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