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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: wind · stem · present · pop · rush · kid · wax · spell

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. rush — hurry
  3. kid — child
  4. present — a gift
  5. pop — music
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. present — the time now
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. pop — to visit
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wax — to grow
  12. kid — to tease
  13. spell — letters
  14. present — there
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. pop — soda
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. rush — to hurry
  21. stem — to come from
  22. spell — a short time
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stem — of a plant

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