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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: shower · wax · ground · pass · pitcher · staff · tear · kid

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. wax — to grow
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. kid — to tease
  5. pass — a permit
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. tear — from crying
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. staff — employees
  11. shower — rain
  12. tear — to rip
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. kid — child
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. staff — a stick
  17. ground — a position
  18. tear — from crying
  19. ground — the earth
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. ground — crushed
  23. shower — to wash
  24. wax — for sculpting

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