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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: swing · shower · squash · wax · prune · march · court · clip

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. court — of a king
  3. squash — to crush
  4. wax — to grow
  5. prune — to trim
  6. march — music
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. court — of law
  9. march — the month
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. shower — rain
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. swing — music
  14. clip — for paper
  15. prune — to trim
  16. swing — to play on
  17. shower — to wash
  18. swing — in golf
  19. court — for sport
  20. clip — a video
  21. clip — to cut
  22. march — the month
  23. squash — the sport
  24. wax — in the ear

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