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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: cabinet · cold · band · squash · wax · bore · rash · kid

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. rash — hasty
  5. cabinet — a cupboard
  6. wax — to grow
  7. rash — a series
  8. squash — the sport
  9. bore — to tire
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. band — a music group
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bore — to drill
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. band — a ring
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. kid — child
  24. cold — an illness

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