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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: cold · game · wax · kick · chair · face · bowl · season

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  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. bowl — to roll
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. face — part of the head
  5. season — of the year
  6. wax — to grow
  7. face — to confront
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. chair — a leader
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. kick — in football
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. season — in sport
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. face — to point toward
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — an illness
  22. game — a match
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. game — wild animals

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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