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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: board · fall · wax · bat · capital · hand · row · tube

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. fall — to drop
  3. capital — a city
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. hand — help
  6. row — to paddle
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. fall — to drop
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. row — a line
  12. capital — money
  13. board — to get on
  14. wax — to grow
  15. tube — the underground
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. board — a committee
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. fall — the season
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. tube — a container

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