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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
468
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: wound · wax · mine · squash · cold · temple · march · field

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. march — music
  4. field — farmland
  5. mine — for digging
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. march — the month
  9. march — the month
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. squash — to crush
  15. squash — the sport
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wound — an injury
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — for sport
  23. wax — to grow
  24. mine — an explosive

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