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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: chip · spring · cold · tear · wax · race

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wax — to grow
  4. spring — of water
  5. race — a contest
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. spring — the season
  10. chip — to eat
  11. chip — for betting
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. race — the arms race
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. tear — to rip
  18. spring — a coil

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