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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. capital — a city
  3. bark — to shout
  4. wax — to grow
  5. spell — letters
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. land — a country
  10. present — the time now
  11. present — a gift
  12. present — there
  13. field — for sport
  14. land — ground
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. spell — a short time
  17. field — farmland
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. capital — money
  20. wake — a trail
  21. land — to come down
  22. spell — magic
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. field — a subject

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