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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. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. game — a match
  5. rock — a stone
  6. spring — a coil
  7. wax — to grow
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bulb — for light
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. game — wild animals
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. spring — of water
  19. rock — music
  20. spring — the season
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. prune — to trim

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