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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: chest · toast · wax · ground · fan · pitch · cold · band

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. ground — the earth
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. toast — a drink to someone
  6. band — a music group
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pitch — completely
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. chest — of your body
  16. ground — a position
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. ground — crushed
  22. chest — a box
  23. toast — bread
  24. wax — to grow

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