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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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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: bat · mark · cold · present · wax · shower · wind · swing

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. swing — in golf
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. present — a gift
  10. present — there
  11. mark — a trace
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. wax — to grow
  14. swing — to play on
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. shower — to wash
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. bat — the animal
  21. mark — a grade
  22. shower — rain
  23. present — the time now
  24. swing — music

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