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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: band · rest · cold · chest · spring · plane · wax · wake

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. rest — what's left
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. wax — to grow
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. chest — of your body
  8. band — a music group
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. wake — a trail
  13. chest — of your body
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. plane — a tool
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — an illness
  18. spring — the season
  19. spring — of water
  20. rest — what's left
  21. chest — a box
  22. band — a ring
  23. spring — a coil
  24. plane — in geometry

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