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

Word bank: press · stick · wave · cold · wax · chest

  1. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. press — to push
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. press — a publisher
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. wax — to grow
  14. chest — a box
  15. cold — not warm
  16. press — newspapers
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. cold — the Cold War

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