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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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — to grow
  2. field — for sport
  3. race — the arms race
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. court — for sport
  8. race — a contest
  9. court — of law
  10. ground — a position
  11. clip — a video
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. race — humankind
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. ground — crushed
  16. ground — the earth
  17. field — a subject
  18. bark — to shout
  19. field — farmland
  20. court — of a king
  21. clip — to cut
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. clip — for paper
  24. stick — to attach or keep 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