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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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Word bank
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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: bat · temple · wax · chest · date · race

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. date — the fruit
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. race — humankind
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. race — the arms race
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. race — a contest

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