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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: shower · prune · swing · rule · game · wax · band · bark

  1. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. swing — to play on
  3. wax — to grow
  4. band — a ring
  5. prune — to trim
  6. swing — in golf
  7. prune — to trim
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. game — wild animals
  12. shower — to wash
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. bark — to shout
  15. game — a match
  16. band — a music group
  17. swing — music
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. shower — rain
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. rule — government
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. prune — the fruit

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