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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: lash · cell · pass · wax · bat · fork · cold · chair

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. cold — not warm
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. chair — a leader
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. bat — the animal
  14. fork — in a road
  15. pass — a permit
  16. wax — to grow
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. cell — in biology
  23. cell — a phone
  24. lash — to lash out

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