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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: key · bound · kid · straw · wax · pitcher · cap · capital

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. kid — to tease
  3. cap — a hat
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. capital — a city
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. key — the most important part
  8. key — in music
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. cap — a lid
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. cap — of ice
  17. kid — child
  18. bound — tied together
  19. capital — money
  20. key — for a lock
  21. bound — obliged
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bound — certain

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