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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: bass · last · land · tear · capital · wax · cell · vault

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. land — ground
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. vault — a safe
  6. last — final
  7. cell — a phone
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — a city
  10. tear — from crying
  11. last — finally
  12. bass — low music
  13. land — to come down
  14. capital — money
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. vault — an arched ceiling
  17. land — a country
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. cell — in biology
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bass — the fish
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. tear — to rip
  24. last — to go on

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