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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.

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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: rest · cold · bat · face · lean · present · wax · mug

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. present — the time now
  4. present — a gift
  5. present — there
  6. face — to confront
  7. bat — the animal
  8. rest — a break
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. face — part of the head
  11. cold — an illness
  12. lean — thin
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. mug — a cup
  16. mug — a face
  17. cold — not warm
  18. mug — to rob
  19. wax — to grow
  20. rest — what's left
  21. rest — what's left
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. face — to point toward

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