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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. spring — of water
  4. spring — the season
  5. wax — to grow
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. row — to paddle
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. land — ground
  11. bark — to shout
  12. land — a country
  13. row — a line
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. chip — to eat
  18. stem — to come from
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. land — to come down
  21. spring — a coil
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. chip — for betting
  24. wax — for sculpting

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