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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: wax · bat · land · mate · tube · last · court · lean

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  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. land — ground
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. mate — a friend
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. court — of a king
  7. lean — thin
  8. land — to come down
  9. last — to go on
  10. mate — to breed
  11. bat — the animal
  12. tube — the underground
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. wax — to grow
  15. land — a country
  16. mate — a partner
  17. lean — to bend
  18. last — finally
  19. last — final
  20. court — of law
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. court — for sport
  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