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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: wind · cue · wax · stock · band · tube · sharp · spring

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. band — a ring
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. cue — a hint
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. wax — to grow
  9. cue — for pool
  10. tube — a container
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. band — a music group
  13. sharp — clever
  14. stock — goods
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. spring — a coil
  17. tube — the underground
  18. spring — the season
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. stock — shares
  21. spring — of water
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cue — a signal
  24. band — a rubber band

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