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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: wax · file · fall · race · ground · cold · deal · hand

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. fall — the season
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fall — to drop
  5. race — humankind
  6. deal — to handle
  7. fall — to drop
  8. ground — crushed
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. ground — a position
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. wax — to grow
  15. file — a document
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. race — a contest
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cold — not warm
  21. ground — the earth
  22. hand — help
  23. race — the arms race
  24. file — a tool

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