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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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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: face · wax · mine · swing · pound · rash · cell · pitch

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. rash — hasty
  3. mine — for digging
  4. face — to confront
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. pitch — completely
  9. rash — a series
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. cell — in biology
  12. wax — to grow
  13. face — part of the head
  14. face — to point toward
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. cell — a phone
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. swing — music
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. pound — a weight
  23. swing — in golf
  24. swing — to play 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