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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: foot · cold · vault · kid · nail · rush · march · wax

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. vault — a safe
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. cold — an illness
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. march — the month
  8. foot — the bottom
  9. wax — to grow
  10. kid — to tease
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. kid — child
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. march — music
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. cold — not warm
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. march — the month
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. nail — on a finger
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. foot — a measure

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