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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: land · squash · wax · net · cold · field · last · pop

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. cold — an illness
  3. squash — the sport
  4. pop — to visit
  5. land — ground
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. net — in sport
  8. field — farmland
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. pop — music
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. cold — not warm
  13. field — for sport
  14. last — to go on
  15. squash — to crush
  16. pop — soda
  17. net — after costs
  18. last — final
  19. field — a subject
  20. last — finally
  21. land — to come down
  22. land — a country
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wax — to grow

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