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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. hand — in cards
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. wax — to grow
  9. kid — to tease
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. kid — child
  12. hand — help
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. band — a ring
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. bark — to shout
  17. swing — to play on
  18. swing — in golf
  19. swing — music
  20. wake — a trail
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. band — a music group
  24. squash — to crush

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