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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 120 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 owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. wax — to grow
  3. game — a match
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. prune — to trim
  8. field — for sport
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. game — wild animals
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. field — farmland
  14. band — a music group
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. row — to paddle
  17. field — a subject
  18. band — a ring
  19. row — a line
  20. stem — to come from
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. perch — the fish
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. prune — to trim

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