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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 120 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: wax · pitch · cold · kid · fan · kick · rock · land

  1. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — in football
  2. rock — a stone
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. rock — music
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. kid — to tease
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. land — a country
  15. kid — child
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. wax — to grow
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. pitch — completely
  22. land — to come down
  23. land — ground
  24. cold — not warm

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