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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: shower · plane · chair · wax · scale · ground · tube · court

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. chair — a leader
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. court — of law
  5. scale — size or range
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. ground — a position
  8. court — for sport
  9. ground — crushed
  10. tube — a container
  11. wax — to grow
  12. shower — to wash
  13. court — of a king
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. shower — rain
  17. scale — for weighing
  18. plane — a tool
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. ground — the earth
  21. scale — in music
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. plane — in geometry

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