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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 116 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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. press — a publisher
  3. bark — to shout
  4. field — farmland
  5. wound — an injury
  6. land — to come down
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. wax — to grow
  10. field — for sport
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. press — to push
  17. wound — an injury
  18. land — ground
  19. land — a country
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. pound — a weight
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. field — a subject
  24. press — newspapers

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