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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  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 — for sculpting
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. bore — to tire
  7. pound — a weight
  8. swing — in golf
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. wax — to grow
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. swing — to play on
  16. swing — music
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. cold — not warm
  20. perch — the fish
  21. bore — to drill
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. pound — to hit hard
  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