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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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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: cold · sharp · ground · spring · race · wax · present · game

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. present — there
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. present — the time now
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — not warm
  7. race — the arms race
  8. present — a gift
  9. ground — the earth
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. sharp — clever
  13. ground — a position
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. spring — the season
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. cold — an illness
  18. game — wild animals
  19. ground — crushed
  20. race — humankind
  21. spring — of water
  22. game — a match
  23. race — a contest
  24. spring — a coil

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