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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · content · cap · wax · kid · wake · field · wound

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — wild animals
  3. cap — a lid
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. content — happy
  11. content — the amount
  12. field — farmland
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — child
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. cap — of ice
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. field — for sport
  19. wound — an injury
  20. field — a subject
  21. cap — a hat
  22. wax — to grow
  23. wake — a trail
  24. content — videos and posts

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