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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 · wax · fork · mark · ground · squash · spring · wind

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. spring — the season
  4. swing — in golf
  5. squash — to crush
  6. wind — moving air
  7. ground — crushed
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. ground — a position
  13. wax — to grow
  14. spring — a coil
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. squash — the sport
  17. mark — a trace
  18. swing — to play on
  19. swing — music
  20. ground — the earth
  21. mark — a grade
  22. spring — of water
  23. fork — in a road
  24. wind — moving air

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