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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: wax · stock · perch · hand · leaves · tube · cold · prune

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — not warm
  3. tube — a container
  4. stock — shares
  5. hand — in cards
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. wax — to grow
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tube — the underground
  18. prune — to trim
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. hand — help
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. perch — the fish
  23. stock — goods
  24. prune — to trim

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