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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. swing — in golf
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. prune — to trim
  6. wax — to grow
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — for digging
  9. root — the cause
  10. cold — an illness
  11. swing — to play on
  12. root — of a word
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. prune — to trim
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. foot — a measure
  18. net — for catching
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — not warm
  21. net — after costs
  22. net — in sport
  23. swing — music
  24. root — of a plant

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