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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: ball · wax · mate · court · saw · wind · face · kid

  1. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. mate — a partner
  4. ball — a great time
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. court — of a king
  7. court — of law
  8. saw — the tool
  9. ball — a dance
  10. kid — child
  11. mate — to breed
  12. face — to point toward
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. face — to confront
  15. kid — to tease
  16. saw — the tool
  17. mate — a friend
  18. face — part of the head
  19. court — for sport
  20. wax — to grow
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — moving air

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