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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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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: chest · foot · pound · court · wax · patient · shower · clip

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. clip — to cut
  3. wax — to grow
  4. court — for sport
  5. pound — a weight
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. foot — a measure
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. shower — to wash
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. foot — the bottom
  12. clip — a video
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. chest — a box
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. court — of law
  17. chest — of your body
  18. clip — for paper
  19. shower — rain
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. court — of a king
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. chest — of your body

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