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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. wax — to grow
  3. capital — money
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. spring — a coil
  7. squash — to crush
  8. wind — moving air
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. root — of a plant
  11. band — a music group
  12. wind — moving air
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. root — of a word
  15. capital — a city
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. band — a ring
  18. spring — the season
  19. root — the cause
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. spring — of water
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. deal — to handle

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