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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. pitch — completely
  3. prune — to trim
  4. rush — hurry
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. band — a music group
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. prune — to trim
  13. mine — for digging
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. bat — the animal
  21. wax — to grow
  22. pound — a weight
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. band — a rubber band

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