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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: mate · pitch · face · chair · wax · net · plane · race

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. face — part of the head
  3. wax — to grow
  4. race — humankind
  5. pitch — completely
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. net — for catching
  9. mate — a friend
  10. race — the arms race
  11. face — to confront
  12. net — in sport
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. mate — a partner
  15. face — to point toward
  16. mate — to breed
  17. race — a contest
  18. plane — a tool
  19. net — after costs
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. chair — to sit on

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