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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: ball · capital · cold · wax · bound · bore · temple · game

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. bound — certain
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. game — a match
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. capital — a city
  9. bound — tied together
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. bound — obliged
  12. wax — to grow
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. bore — to drill
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bore — to tire
  17. ball — a dance
  18. cold — not warm
  19. capital — money
  20. game — wild animals
  21. ball — a great time
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. cold — the Cold War

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