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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. land — ground
  5. mate — a partner
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. land — a country
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. shower — to wash
  10. prune — to trim
  11. squash — to crush
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rest — what's left
  14. mate — a friend
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. prune — to trim
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cold — an illness
  21. shower — rain
  22. wax — to grow
  23. mate — to breed
  24. land — to come down

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