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

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. band — a ring
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. band — a music group
  7. kid — child
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. squash — to crush
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. squash — the sport
  14. prune — to trim
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. spring — a coil
  17. prune — to trim
  18. kid — to tease
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. spring — of water
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. spring — the season
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — a phone

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