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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wax — to grow
  3. swing — to play on
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. mate — a friend
  8. cold — an illness
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mate — to breed
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. swing — in golf
  13. mine — for digging
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. lash — to lash out
  20. mate — a partner
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. swing — music
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wax — for sculpting

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