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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 116 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. land — a country
  3. wax — to grow
  4. row — a line
  5. land — ground
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. bark — to shout
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. wax — in the ear
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. game — a match
  16. land — to come down
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. kick — in football
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. lie — to recline
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. game — wild animals
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. row — to paddle

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