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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: wind · wound · wax · object · bat · cap · band · lash

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wax — to grow
  5. object — to protest
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bat — the animal
  14. wound — an injury
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. band — a ring
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. cap — a lid
  19. object — an aim
  20. object — a thing
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cap — of ice
  23. cap — a hat
  24. wax — for sculpting

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