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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
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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: chest · wax · calf · pop · ball · spring · straw · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. pop — to visit
  3. spring — a coil
  4. pop — soda
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cold — an illness
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. wax — to grow
  10. pop — music
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. ball — a dance
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. cold — not warm
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. chest — of your body
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. chest — a box
  24. ball — a great time

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