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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 116 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: pound · bat · wax · prune · net · chair · rule · race

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. net — after costs
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. pound — a weight
  6. rule — government
  7. rule — a law
  8. net — for catching
  9. net — in sport
  10. chair — a leader
  11. race — the arms race
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. race — a contest
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. wax — to grow
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. bat — the animal
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. race — humankind
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. prune — to trim
  24. bat — in an idiom

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