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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: wind · swing · land · saw · prune · stock · wax · root

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. swing — to play on
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. stock — goods
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. prune — to trim
  7. root — the cause
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. land — to come down
  10. land — ground
  11. saw — the tool
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. wind — moving air
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. swing — in golf
  16. wind — moving air
  17. land — a country
  18. stock — shares
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. prune — to trim
  21. swing — music
  22. wax — to grow
  23. root — of a word
  24. root — of a plant

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