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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. cap — a hat
  3. content — happy
  4. face — to point toward
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — a match
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. can — a tin
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — an illness
  13. can — a tin
  14. cap — of ice
  15. can — to be able to
  16. cap — a lid
  17. stem — to come from
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. face — part of the head
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. content — the amount
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. face — to confront

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