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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 cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mine — for digging
  3. squash — to crush
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. cell — a phone
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. tear — from crying
  9. cell — in biology
  10. wax — to grow
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. wound — an injury
  15. tear — from crying
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. squash — the sport
  20. wound — an injury
  21. tear — to rip
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. prune — to trim
  24. leaves — of a tree

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