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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. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. season — in sport
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wax — to grow
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. object — an aim
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. shower — rain
  12. cold — an illness
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. object — to protest
  16. roll — a list
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. season — of the year
  19. roll — a cake
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. shower — to wash
  22. object — a thing
  23. bark — to shout
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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