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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: wax · fall · court · cold · kick · can · present · chair

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. wax — to grow
  3. present — there
  4. chair — a leader
  5. can — a tin
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. can — to be able to
  9. fall — to drop
  10. present — a gift
  11. court — of law
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. cold — not warm
  16. present — the time now
  17. court — for sport
  18. court — of a king
  19. kick — in football
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. cold — an illness
  22. can — a tin
  23. fall — the season
  24. kick — with a leg

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