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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. wax — to grow
  3. spring — the season
  4. track — a path
  5. club — a group
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. track — to keep track
  8. file — a line of people
  9. spring — a coil
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. track — a song
  13. club — for dancing
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. date — the fruit
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. file — a tool
  18. spring — of water
  19. club — for golf
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. file — a document
  23. row — a line
  24. row — to paddle

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