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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: trunk · fork · wax · prune · hand · shower · squash · game

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. squash — to crush
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. prune — to trim
  10. hand — in cards
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wax — to grow
  14. prune — to trim
  15. squash — the sport
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. hand — help
  20. fork — in a road
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. game — a match
  24. wax — for sculpting

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