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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: kick · degree · wax · prune · fan · hand · chest · rule

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. rule — a law
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. hand — in cards
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. wax — to grow
  12. hand — help
  13. chest — of your body
  14. prune — to trim
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. degree — an amount
  17. chest — of your body
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. degree — temperature
  20. chest — a box
  21. rule — government
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. degree — from a university
  24. kick — in football

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