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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 116 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: kid · wax · band · shower · rest · patient · spring · cold

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. rest — what's left
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. band — a ring
  5. band — a music group
  6. spring — the season
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. spring — of water
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. rest — what's left
  12. shower — rain
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. kid — child
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — to wash
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rest — a break
  21. spring — a coil
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. wax — to grow
  24. cold — an illness

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