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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: game · wax · pitch · swing · tear · bore · kid · face

  1. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. kid — to tease
  3. wax — to grow
  4. bore — to drill
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. swing — in golf
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. face — to confront
  10. swing — music
  11. kid — child
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. face — to point toward
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. swing — to play on
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. game — a match
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. bore — to tire
  20. pitch — completely
  21. face — part of the head
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. game — wild animals

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