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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: fall · mug · bark · kid · last · cold · land · wax

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. land — a country
  3. land — to come down
  4. fall — the season
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. cold — an illness
  7. mug — a cup
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. bark — to shout
  10. fall — to drop
  11. last — final
  12. kid — to tease
  13. mug — to rob
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. land — ground
  16. wax — to grow
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fall — to drop
  22. mug — a face
  23. last — finally
  24. last — to go on

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