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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. tear — to rip
  3. squash — to crush
  4. spring — of water
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. spell — magic
  8. wax — to grow
  9. spell — letters
  10. field — for sport
  11. spring — the season
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. field — a subject
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. squash — the sport
  18. prune — to trim
  19. spell — a short time
  20. field — farmland
  21. spring — a coil
  22. tear — from crying
  23. prune — to trim
  24. cabinet — ministers

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