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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. rash — hasty
  6. cold — an illness
  7. chair — a leader
  8. wave — of the sea
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bass — low music
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. chest — a box
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. bass — the fish
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. rash — a series
  24. chair — a professorship

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