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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'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. land — a country
  3. wax — to grow
  4. prune — to trim
  5. land — to come down
  6. prune — to trim
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. fall — to drop
  9. fall — the season
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. cap — a lid
  12. cap — of ice
  13. fall — to drop
  14. stock — goods
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. court — of a king
  17. court — of law
  18. cap — a hat
  19. stock — shares
  20. court — for sport
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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