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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: drill · cold · pit · kick · wax · rash · lean · straw

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. drill — a practice
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wax — to grow
  6. rash — a series
  7. kick — in football
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pit — in a race
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. rash — hasty
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. lean — to bend
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. drill — army training
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. lean — thin
  21. drill — the tool
  22. pit — a hole
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. wax — in the ear

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