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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.

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: bore · game · season · rash · hide · wax · rest · cold

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wax — to grow
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. rest — a break
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. cold — not warm
  7. rest — what's left
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. rash — a series
  10. bore — to tire
  11. season — in sport
  12. rash — hasty
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. bore — to drill
  15. game — a match
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. cold — an illness
  18. rest — what's left
  19. season — of the year
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — wild animals
  24. cold — the Cold War

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