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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: race · face · wax · kid · chair · plane · cold · fan

  1. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. face — to confront
  5. chair — a leader
  6. race — humankind
  7. cold — not warm
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. race — the arms race
  13. race — a contest
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. face — to point toward
  16. plane — a tool
  17. kid — to tease
  18. cold — an illness
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. kid — child
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. face — part of the head
  24. fan — a supporter

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