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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — of the sea
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. field — for sport
  7. bark — to shout
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. prune — to trim
  11. field — farmland
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. wax — to grow
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. field — a subject
  16. bat — the animal
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bat — for baseball

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