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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. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Have you settled on a ________________?
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. roll — a cake
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. chest — of your body
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. plane — a tool
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. bark — to shout
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. chest — a box
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. cold — not warm
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. roll — a list
  20. date — the fruit
  21. chest — of your body
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. wax — to grow
  24. vault — a safe

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