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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.

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: wax · key · cell · bass · bark · drill · field · capital

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. cell — a phone
  4. key — for a lock
  5. capital — a city
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. wax — to grow
  10. bass — low music
  11. cell — in biology
  12. drill — army training
  13. capital — money
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. field — for sport
  16. field — farmland
  17. key — in music
  18. field — a subject
  19. bass — the fish
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. bark — to shout
  22. drill — the tool
  23. drill — a practice
  24. capital — a big letter

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