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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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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: face · safe · file · wax · squash · stem · cold · rule

  1. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  17. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to point toward
  2. rule — a law
  3. wax — to grow
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. squash — the sport
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. squash — to crush
  8. file — a tool
  9. cold — an illness
  10. face — to confront
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. stem — to come from
  13. rule — government
  14. cold — not warm
  15. face — part of the head
  16. safe — a strongbox
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a document
  24. stem — a stem cell

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