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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. row — a line
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. wind — moving air
  5. field — farmland
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. board — a committee
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. wind — moving air
  13. field — a subject
  14. row — to paddle
  15. board — to get on
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. bark — to shout
  18. game — a match
  19. field — for sport
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. wax — to grow
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. game — wild animals

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