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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: kid · race · wind · lie · field · bowl · wax · stick

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. race — a contest
  3. lie — an untruth
  4. race — the arms race
  5. kid — child
  6. lie — to recline
  7. field — a subject
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. field — farmland
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. race — humankind
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. wax — to grow
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. field — for sport
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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