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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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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: craft · wax · tube · prune · stick · bay · row · cold

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. prune — to trim
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. craft — a skill
  5. tube — the underground
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. craft — boats
  9. cold — not warm
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. tube — a container
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. wax — to grow
  20. prune — to trim
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. cold — an illness
  23. row — to paddle
  24. row — a line

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