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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: hand · pitcher · kid · pop · season · spring · wax · stem

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. wax — to grow
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. hand — help
  6. pop — to visit
  7. spring — of water
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. kid — child
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. kid — to tease
  12. pop — music
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. stem — to come from
  16. spring — the season
  17. hand — in cards
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. season — in sport
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. spring — a coil
  23. season — of the year
  24. pop — soda

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