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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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. kid — to tease
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. bear — the animal
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. kid — child
  8. bear — the animal
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. track — to keep track
  11. file — a line of people
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bark — to shout
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. game — a match
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. wax — to grow
  20. track — a path
  21. file — a tool
  22. file — a document
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. game — wild animals

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