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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: bat · wax · mine · hide · cold · bay · content · bore

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. My mare is ________________ in color.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. content — happy
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bore — gave birth
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wax — to grow
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. mine — for digging
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. content — the amount
  19. bore — to drill
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bore — to tire
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. bay — a horse colour

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