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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 116 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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. field — a subject
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. track — a path
  5. lean — thin
  6. track — a song
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wind — moving air
  10. lean — to bend
  11. scale — in music
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. scale — size or range
  15. wax — to grow
  16. field — for sport
  17. prune — to trim
  18. field — farmland
  19. cold — not warm
  20. wind — moving air
  21. prune — to trim
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. prune — the fruit

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