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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. track — a path
  3. rest — a break
  4. rest — what's left
  5. track — a song
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. rest — what's left
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. spring — of water
  12. wax — to grow
  13. wound — an injury
  14. spring — the season
  15. wound — an injury
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. prune — to trim
  18. track — to keep track
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bark — to shout
  24. spring — a coil

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