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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 120 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: scale · cold · tear · pit · wax · mine · ball · temple

  1. When was this ________________ built?
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. ball — a dance
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. scale — size or range
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. tear — from crying
  8. pit — in a race
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wax — to grow
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. ball — a great time
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tear — to rip
  21. mine — for digging
  22. scale — in music
  23. pit — a hole
  24. ball — a round shape

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