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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: mate · cold · lie · bat · mine · kid · foot · wax

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. lie — to recline
  3. wax — to grow
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. cold — an illness
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. mate — a friend
  9. kid — to tease
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mine — for digging
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mate — to breed
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. foot — a measure
  17. bat — the animal
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. mate — a partner
  22. foot — part of the body
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. mine — an explosive

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