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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 120 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: capital · shower · field · pop · hand · branch · wave · wax

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. hand — in cards
  3. branch — a division
  4. capital — a city
  5. field — farmland
  6. hand — help
  7. wax — to grow
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. pop — music
  10. field — for sport
  11. capital — money
  12. field — a subject
  13. pop — soda
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. pop — to visit
  19. shower — rain
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. shower — to wash
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. wax — in the ear

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