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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. prune — to trim
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. cap — a lid
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. date — the fruit
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. race — humankind
  12. band — a music group
  13. prune — to trim
  14. wax — to grow
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. band — a ring
  17. cap — a hat
  18. cap — of ice
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. race — a contest
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. race — the arms race

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