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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: wound · content · stick · kid · wax · capital · racket · field

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. kid — child
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. wax — to grow
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. content — happy
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. wound — an injury
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. capital — a city
  15. kid — to tease
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. content — the amount
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. field — farmland
  20. capital — money
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. field — 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