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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: prune · saw · toast · arm · wax · bass · cold · kid

  1. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. arm — a part of something
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — to trim
  8. toast — bread
  9. saw — the tool
  10. saw — the tool
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. bass — low music
  14. cold — an illness
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cold — not warm
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. bass — the fish
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — child

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