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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. swing — music
  5. scale — size or range
  6. prune — to trim
  7. shower — rain
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. swing — to play on
  10. prune — to trim
  11. game — a match
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — a video
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. kick — in football
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. clip — for paper
  18. game — wild animals
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. wax — to grow
  21. shower — to wash
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. scale — in music
  24. swing — in golf

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