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

Word bank: mate · cold · racket · coach · straw · pound · wax · prune

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. mate — to breed
  3. wax — to grow
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. pound — a weight
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. cold — not warm
  8. mate — a partner
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. mate — a friend
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. cold — an illness
  15. prune — to trim
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. prune — to trim
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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