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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: cold · wax · foot · tear · swing · coach · bat · jam

  1. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — music
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. bat — the animal
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. foot — a measure
  12. wax — to grow
  13. swing — to play on
  14. cold — an illness
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. cold — not warm
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. tear — from crying
  24. swing — in golf

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