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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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. wax — to grow
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. rash — a series
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. field — for sport
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. spell — letters
  10. spring — a coil
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. spring — the season
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. spring — of water
  15. rash — hasty
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. spell — magic
  18. spell — a short time
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. field — a subject
  22. field — farmland
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. wound — an injury

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