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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: clip · pitcher · bore · cell · capital · wax · tear · game

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. game — a match
  3. bore — to drill
  4. wax — to grow
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — wild animals
  7. clip — for paper
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. bore — to tire
  10. tear — to rip
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cell — a phone
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. clip — to cut
  16. tear — from crying
  17. clip — a video
  18. cell — in biology
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. capital — money
  22. capital — a city
  23. tear — from crying
  24. bore — gave birth

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