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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. cold — not warm
  6. mark — a trace
  7. band — a music group
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wax — to grow
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. wake — a trail
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. mark — to pay attention
  17. band — a ring
  18. mark — a grade
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. prune — to trim
  21. plane — a tool
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. trunk — 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