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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 · face · mate · shower · wound · squash · field · saw

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. face — to confront
  3. squash — the sport
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. mate — a partner
  6. mate — to breed
  7. saw — the tool
  8. wound — an injury
  9. face — to point toward
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. squash — to crush
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. field — farmland
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. wax — to grow
  18. field — a subject
  19. saw — the tool
  20. shower — to wash
  21. wound — an injury
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. field — for sport
  24. face — part of the head

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