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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: branch · wax · ground · spring · field · tear · fall · rock

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  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. tear — from crying
  2. ground — a position
  3. spring — a coil
  4. ground — crushed
  5. field — farmland
  6. fall — to drop
  7. wax — to grow
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. spring — the season
  11. field — a subject
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. rock — a stone
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. field — for sport
  16. fall — the season
  17. tear — to rip
  18. branch — a division
  19. ground — the earth
  20. fall — to drop
  21. rock — music
  22. tear — from crying
  23. branch — of a tree
  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