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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. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. wax — to grow
  4. wax — in the ear
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. hand — help
  7. net — after costs
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. bark — to shout
  10. stem — to come from
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. ground — crushed
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. net — in sport
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. ground — the earth
  20. ground — a position
  21. dip — to sink
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. hand — in cards
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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