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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: chip · wax · row · wound · cell · face · capital · content

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  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. content — videos and posts
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wax — to grow
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wound — an injury
  8. content — the amount
  9. row — to paddle
  10. capital — money
  11. face — part of the head
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. content — happy
  14. capital — a city
  15. row — a line
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. chip — to eat
  19. cell — a phone
  20. face — to point toward
  21. face — to confront
  22. cell — in biology
  23. chip — for betting
  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