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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 · press · mine · row · cabinet · trunk · hand · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. hand — help
  3. press — newspapers
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. mine — for digging
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. cold — an illness
  10. row — a line
  11. wax — to grow
  12. press — a publisher
  13. press — to push
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. row — to paddle
  21. hand — in cards
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. wax — for sculpting

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