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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: rest · chest · spring · swing · fan · prune · wax · snap

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — of water
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. rest — what's left
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. swing — to play on
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. rest — a break
  11. wax — to grow
  12. prune — to trim
  13. chest — of your body
  14. swing — in golf
  15. chest — of your body
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. chest — a box
  18. rest — what's left
  19. spring — a coil
  20. swing — music
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. prune — to trim
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. fan — a supporter

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