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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: wake · spell · ruler · chest · scale · wax · field · clip

  1. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — a trail
  2. field — farmland
  3. clip — a video
  4. spell — magic
  5. spell — a short time
  6. ruler — a monarch
  7. wax — to grow
  8. clip — to cut
  9. spell — letters
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. field — a subject
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. clip — for paper
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. field — for sport
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. scale — size or range
  19. chest — of your body
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. chest — a box
  22. scale — in music
  23. chest — of your body
  24. ruler — for measuring

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