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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. swing — in golf
  5. bulb — for light
  6. court — for sport
  7. swing — to play on
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. court — of a king
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. ground — the earth
  13. ground — crushed
  14. mine — for digging
  15. ground — a position
  16. bulb — for light
  17. wax — to grow
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. swing — music
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. band — a music group
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. court — of law

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