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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. rule — a law
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. wax — to grow
  6. kid — to tease
  7. season — of the year
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. season — in sport
  11. bark — to shout
  12. cold — an illness
  13. ball — a great time
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pop — music
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. kid — child
  20. rule — government
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pop — soda
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. pop — to visit

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