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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 sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. spell — magic
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spell — a short time
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. spell — letters
  17. cold — not warm
  18. lean — to bend
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. lean — thin
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. wax — to grow
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. wind — moving air

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