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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: bat · game · stem · pop · lash · fork · wax · net

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. net — after costs
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. stem — to come from
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. net — for catching
  8. pop — soda
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. pop — to visit
  12. game — a match
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. net — in sport
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. bat — the animal
  20. game — wild animals
  21. wax — to grow
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. fork — in a road

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