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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: wound · wax · hand · lash · bat · cold · charge · rule

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. charge — a price
  3. rule — a law
  4. hand — help
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. bat — the animal
  7. hand — in cards
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rule — government
  10. wound — an injury
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. charge — electricity
  14. cold — an illness
  15. wound — an injury
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. charge — in control
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. cold — the Cold War

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