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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 120 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: shower · hand · stand · degree · deal · pop · prune · wax

  1. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. I can't ________________ this cold.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. hand — help
  3. wax — to grow
  4. degree — temperature
  5. prune — to trim
  6. pop — soda
  7. pop — to visit
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. deal — an agreement
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. degree — an amount
  12. deal — to handle
  13. shower — to wash
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. hand — in cards
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. stand — to bear
  18. prune — to trim
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. degree — from a university
  21. shower — rain
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. pop — music

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