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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. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  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. bank — for money
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. wax — to grow
  5. swing — to play on
  6. degree — temperature
  7. drill — army training
  8. wound — an injury
  9. swing — in golf
  10. bank — for money
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. degree — from a university
  14. bank — of a river
  15. cold — an illness
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. drill — the tool
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. swing — music
  21. bark — to shout
  22. drill — a practice
  23. cold — not warm
  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