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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 moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. stem — to come from
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. bass — low music
  5. club — for golf
  6. game — a match
  7. spell — letters
  8. bass — the fish
  9. club — a group
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. file — a tool
  12. club — for dancing
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. spell — a short time
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. file — a line of people
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. game — wild animals
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. spell — magic
  24. file — a document

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