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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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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: club · prune · wax · roll · bore · court · hand · straw

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. roll — a cake
  3. prune — to trim
  4. club — for dancing
  5. roll — a list
  6. wax — to grow
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. hand — help
  10. court — of a king
  11. court — for sport
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bore — to drill
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. club — for golf
  17. hand — in cards
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. bore — to tire
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. prune — to trim
  22. club — a group
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. bore — gave birth

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