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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wax — to grow
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. kid — child
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. wound — an injury
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. cold — an illness
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. pitch — completely
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. bowl — a football final
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — part of the body

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