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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: chest · cold · mine · wax · pound · game · mate · fine

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. mine — for digging
  3. cold — not warm
  4. mate — a friend
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. fine — all right
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. wax — to grow
  11. mate — a partner
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. pound — a weight
  14. game — a match
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. chest — a box
  17. game — wild animals
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. chest — of your body
  20. cold — an illness
  21. mate — to breed
  22. chest — of your body
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. fine — high quality

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