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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. cold — an illness
  4. land — ground
  5. snap — to click
  6. wind — moving air
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. cold — not warm
  9. land — a country
  10. land — to come down
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. wax — to grow
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. bark — to shout
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. chair — a leader
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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