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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  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. ball — a great time
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. hand — help
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. wax — to grow
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. prune — to trim
  10. plane — a tool
  11. prune — to trim
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. pit — a hole
  16. shower — to wash
  17. ball — a dance
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. pit — in a race
  21. hand — in cards
  22. shower — rain
  23. plane — an aircraft
  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