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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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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: wax · cap · pop · hand · court · last · tear · tube

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. last — finally
  3. pop — music
  4. hand — in cards
  5. last — final
  6. court — of a king
  7. pop — to visit
  8. court — for sport
  9. court — of law
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pop — soda
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. last — to go on
  16. cap — of ice
  17. wax — to grow
  18. hand — help
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. cap — a hat
  21. tear — from crying
  22. tube — the underground
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tube — a container

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