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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: spring · wax · cold · coach · track · march · fork · prune

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  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. spring — the season
  2. wax — to grow
  3. track — a song
  4. track — to keep track
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. march — the month
  11. track — a path
  12. march — the month
  13. fork — in a road
  14. march — music
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spring — of water
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. spring — a coil
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. cold — not warm
  22. prune — to trim
  23. prune — to trim
  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