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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: cold · sharp · race · court · wax · band · fall · press

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. wax — to grow
  3. press — to push
  4. cold — not warm
  5. press — newspapers
  6. band — a ring
  7. court — for sport
  8. fall — to drop
  9. press — a publisher
  10. fall — to drop
  11. sharp — clever
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. race — the arms race
  16. band — a music group
  17. fall — the season
  18. court — of law
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. court — of a king
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. race — a contest
  23. race — humankind
  24. cold — an illness

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