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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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. press — to push
  2. hand — in cards
  3. prune — to trim
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. press — a publisher
  11. bass — low music
  12. row — to paddle
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. prune — to trim
  16. press — newspapers
  17. hand — help
  18. wax — to grow
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. row — a line
  23. bass — the fish
  24. row — a quarrel

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