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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a match
  3. land — a country
  4. chair — a leader
  5. wax — to grow
  6. stock — shares
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. land — ground
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. stock — goods
  13. craft — boats
  14. land — to come down
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. craft — a skill
  17. bark — to shout
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. hand — help
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. hand — in cards
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. bark — of a tree

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