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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  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. rush — hurry
  2. spell — letters
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. swing — music
  5. spell — magic
  6. wax — to grow
  7. swing — in golf
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. rule — government
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. swing — to play on
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. spell — a short time
  21. rule — a law
  22. hand — in cards
  23. hand — help
  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