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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 116 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: shower · wax · press · craft · wind · last · bat · file

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wind — moving air
  3. shower — rain
  4. bat — the animal
  5. press — to push
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. wind — moving air
  8. file — a document
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. last — to go on
  11. file — a line of people
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. craft — a skill
  15. file — a tool
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. press — newspapers
  18. craft — boats
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. last — finally
  21. press — a publisher
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. wax — to grow
  24. last — final

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