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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: court · chip · wax · swing · ground · spell · sharp · cell

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. ground — crushed
  4. chip — to eat
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. cell — in biology
  7. wax — to grow
  8. chip — for betting
  9. spell — letters
  10. sharp — clever
  11. swing — in golf
  12. court — of a king
  13. court — for sport
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. ground — a position
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. court — of law
  20. ground — the earth
  21. swing — music
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — magic

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