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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: wax · jam · field · shower · pass · board · cell · kid

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. board — to get on
  4. kid — to tease
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. cell — a phone
  8. field — for sport
  9. board — a committee
  10. shower — to wash
  11. jam — to spread on bread
  12. shower — rain
  13. field — a subject
  14. pass — a permit
  15. kid — child
  16. wax — to grow
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — in a prison

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