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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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. last — to go on
  3. bark — to shout
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. last — finally
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a tool
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. can — a tin
  11. file — a document
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. chest — a box
  14. hand — help
  15. chest — of your body
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. chest — of your body
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. can — a tin
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. last — final
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. can — to be able to

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