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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: wax · prune · cold · bark · pass · pitcher · swing · fork

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. bark — to shout
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. prune — to trim
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. swing — to play on
  11. swing — in golf
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wax — to grow
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. fork — in a road
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. swing — music
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. pass — a permit

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