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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. field — a subject
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. field — farmland
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — money
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bulb — for light
  11. tear — from crying
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wax — to grow
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. bark — to shout
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. bulb — for light
  21. capital — a city
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. field — for sport
  24. wax — for sculpting

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