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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. ground — a position
  5. object — to protest
  6. ball — a dance
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. ground — crushed
  10. rush — hurry
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. object — a thing
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. wax — to grow
  16. object — an aim
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bark — to shout
  21. perch — the fish
  22. cold — not warm
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. ground — the earth

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