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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. mine — for digging
  4. snap — to click
  5. wound — an injury
  6. spell — a short time
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. wound — an injury
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. wax — to grow
  15. bark — to shout
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. spell — letters
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. board — a committee
  20. board — to get on
  21. dip — to sink
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. mine — belonging to me

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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