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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: root · chest · file · cold · wave · land · wax · wake

  1. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. chest — of your body
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. root — of a plant
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. wave — of the sea
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. land — to come down
  11. land — a country
  12. root — the cause
  13. file — a line of people
  14. wake — a trail
  15. chest — a box
  16. cold — not warm
  17. land — ground
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. file — a tool
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. file — a document
  22. chest — of your body
  23. wax — to grow
  24. wave — a sudden rise

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