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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. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. current — electric
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. current — of water
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. root — of a word
  8. current — happening now
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. wax — to grow
  14. content — happy
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. clip — for paper
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. root — the cause
  20. cold — an illness
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. root — of a plant
  23. content — the amount
  24. bark — to shout

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