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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: band · fall · ball · wax · rash · land · cap · face

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. face — to confront
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. cap — of ice
  5. ball — a dance
  6. fall — to drop
  7. band — a ring
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. land — a country
  10. wax — to grow
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. face — to point toward
  13. rash — a series
  14. land — ground
  15. cap — a hat
  16. fall — to drop
  17. ball — a great time
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. band — a music group
  20. cap — a lid
  21. rash — hasty
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. face — part of the head
  24. fall — the season

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