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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. field — for sport
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. prune — to trim
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. bound — certain
  8. wax — to grow
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. spring — a coil
  12. spring — of water
  13. bound — tied together
  14. bound — obliged
  15. field — farmland
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. field — a subject
  18. pound — a weight
  19. prune — to trim
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. spring — the season
  22. cold — not warm
  23. stem — to come from
  24. cold — an illness

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