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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: drill · date · kid · bay · wax · cold · fork · arm

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. My mare is ________________ in color.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. cold — not warm
  4. drill — a practice
  5. bay — a part of the sea
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. cold — an illness
  8. date — the fruit
  9. kid — child
  10. wax — to grow
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. bay — a horse colour
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. fork — in a road
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. kid — to tease
  24. wax — in the ear

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