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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cap — a hat
  4. cap — of ice
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. cap — a lid
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. march — music
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. march — the month
  11. stock — shares
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. band — a ring
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. bark — to shout
  18. band — a music group
  19. wax — to grow
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stock — goods
  22. march — the month
  23. perch — the fish
  24. band — a rubber band

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