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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. wax — to grow
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. game — a match
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. band — a ring
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. land — a country
  11. game — wild animals
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. shower — rain
  15. bark — to shout
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — moving air
  18. bass — low music
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. band — a music group
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bass — the fish
  23. shower — to wash
  24. land — ground

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