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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 116 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 moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. swing — to play on
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. prune — to trim
  5. kid — to tease
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. safe — out of danger
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. file — a tool
  11. swing — in golf
  12. swing — music
  13. bark — to shout
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. safe — a strongbox
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. kid — child
  20. file — a document
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. file — a line of people
  23. capital — a city
  24. capital — money

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