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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. prune — to trim
  3. ball — a dance
  4. fall — to drop
  5. club — a group
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. field — a subject
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. fall — the season
  11. wax — to grow
  12. spring — the season
  13. field — for sport
  14. club — for golf
  15. club — for dancing
  16. mine — for digging
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — a coil
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. prune — to trim
  22. fall — to drop
  23. field — farmland
  24. mine — an explosive

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