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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. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. wax — to grow
  3. spring — the season
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. deal — an agreement
  11. game — a match
  12. spring — a coil
  13. clip — for paper
  14. prune — to trim
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. clip — a video
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. spring — of water
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. clip — to cut
  21. game — wild animals
  22. prune — to trim
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. wax — for sculpting

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