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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 · track · swing · tube · spring · chest · prune · wax

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. chest — a box
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. swing — music
  6. tube — a container
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — the season
  9. chest — of your body
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. swing — in golf
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. shower — to wash
  16. swing — to play on
  17. track — to keep track
  18. chest — of your body
  19. track — a song
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. wax — to grow
  22. tube — the underground
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. spring — of water

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