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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. ground — the earth
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. club — a group
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. club — for golf
  9. spell — letters
  10. date — the fruit
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — a position
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. wax — to grow
  15. club — for dancing
  16. bark — to shout
  17. spell — a short time
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. cold — not warm
  20. spell — magic
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — to come from
  24. stem — a stem cell

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