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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 120 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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. wax — to grow
  4. fork — in a road
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. wax — for sculpting
  8. season — of the year
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — a match
  12. clip — to cut
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. season — in sport
  17. clip — for paper
  18. pound — a weight
  19. bark — to shout
  20. game — wild animals
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. clip — a video
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. season — to add flavour

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