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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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. prune — to trim
  6. face — to point toward
  7. bark — to shout
  8. field — for sport
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. band — a ring
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. band — a music group
  15. stock — goods
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. field — farmland
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. face — to confront
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. field — a subject
  22. wake — a trail
  23. wax — to grow
  24. stock — shares

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