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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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. field — a subject
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. field — farmland
  6. march — the month
  7. squash — the sport
  8. branch — a division
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. wax — to grow
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. squash — to crush
  15. prune — to trim
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. field — for sport
  18. march — music
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. prune — to trim
  24. march — the month

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