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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. wax — to grow
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. prune — to trim
  5. rash — a series
  6. chest — of your body
  7. saw — the tool
  8. cold — an illness
  9. saw — the tool
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. chest — a box
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. rash — hasty
  16. plane — a tool
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. prune — to trim
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. chest — of your body
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. stem — to come from

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