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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: cold · kid · race · wax · vault · pass

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. race — a contest
  3. kid — to tease
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. race — humankind
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. wax — to grow
  9. kid — child
  10. pass — a permit
  11. race — the arms race
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cold — not warm
  17. vault — a safe
  18. cold — an illness

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