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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: ground · last · wax · spell · hand · fall · cap · cold

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  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. hand — help
  2. spell — a short time
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. last — final
  5. cap — a hat
  6. ground — the earth
  7. cap — of ice
  8. last — to go on
  9. wax — to grow
  10. last — finally
  11. spell — magic
  12. cap — a lid
  13. fall — the season
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. spell — letters
  16. hand — in cards
  17. ground — crushed
  18. cold — not warm
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. cold — an illness
  21. ground — a position
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — to drop
  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