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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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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: kid · row · chair · mark · file · cold · wax · cabinet

  1. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. wax — to grow
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. mark — a grade
  5. kid — child
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. row — a line
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. row — to paddle
  11. mark — a trace
  12. cold — an illness
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. kid — to tease
  15. file — a tool
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. file — a line of people
  19. cold — not warm
  20. chair — a leader
  21. file — a document
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. row — a quarrel

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