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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — in the ear
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. kid — to tease
  4. drill — a practice
  5. track — a path
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. track — a song
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. kid — child
  14. vault — a safe
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. wound — an injury
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. drill — the tool
  20. track — to keep track
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wax — to grow
  23. drill — army training
  24. straw — dry grass

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