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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 tickets are free of ________________.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. kid — child
  3. wax — to grow
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. snap — to click
  6. cap — a hat
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — not warm
  9. charge — electricity
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. content — the amount
  12. cap — a lid
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. cap — of ice
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. charge — in control
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. kid — to tease
  20. content — happy
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chest — of your body
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. chest — a box

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