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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.

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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: chest · plane · prune · clip · sharp · pitcher · foot · wax

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. wax — to grow
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. chest — a box
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. prune — to trim
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. foot — a measure
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. prune — to trim
  16. chest — of your body
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. plane — a tool
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — for paper
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. clip — to cut
  24. pitcher — a jug

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