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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: kid · ground · wax · bear · land · craft · squash · cold

  1. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — a handicraft
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. squash — to crush
  4. kid — to tease
  5. squash — the sport
  6. bear — the animal
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ground — a position
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. kid — child
  12. ground — crushed
  13. craft — boats
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. wax — to grow
  17. ground — the earth
  18. bear — the animal
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. craft — a skill
  22. land — ground
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — a country

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