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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 120 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. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — to grow
  4. wound — an injury
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. hand — in cards
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. stem — to come from
  10. hand — help
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. rash — hasty
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bark — to shout
  16. file — a document
  17. wound — an injury
  18. swing — music
  19. rash — a series
  20. swing — to play on
  21. file — a tool
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. swing — in golf
  24. hand — part of the body

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