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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. wax — to grow
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. rock — a stone
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. chair — a leader
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. vault — a safe
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. tear — from crying
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. file — a document
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a line of people
  24. bark — to shout

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