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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kid · scale · club · stem · spell · dip · spring · wax

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. club — for golf
  3. club — for dancing
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. spring — a coil
  6. spring — the season
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. club — a group
  12. dip — to sink
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. scale — in music
  16. spring — of water
  17. wax — to grow
  18. spell — letters
  19. kid — child
  20. spell — magic
  21. spell — a short time
  22. stem — to come from
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. scale — size or range

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