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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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. bark — to shout
  6. degree — temperature
  7. kick — in football
  8. degree — from a university
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. file — a document
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. kid — to tease
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. file — a line of people
  16. file — a tool
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. kid — child
  20. wax — to grow
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. spring — a coil
  23. degree — an amount
  24. spring — of water

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