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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: chest · mate · wax · band · shower · tube · wound · land

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. land — ground
  3. mate — a partner
  4. tube — a container
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. mate — a friend
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. chest — a box
  9. land — a country
  10. chest — of your body
  11. band — a ring
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. tube — the underground
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. band — a music group
  16. wound — an injury
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. mate — to breed
  19. wax — to grow
  20. chest — of your body
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — rain
  23. land — to come down
  24. wound — an injury

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