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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. kid — to tease
  3. wax — to grow
  4. fork — in a road
  5. degree — an amount
  6. shower — to wash
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. spring — of water
  10. shower — rain
  11. degree — from a university
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. spring — the season
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. degree — temperature
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. pop — music
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. pop — soda
  21. pop — to visit
  22. kid — child
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. wax — in the ear

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