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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. wax — to grow
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. file — a line of people
  7. roll — a list
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. rest — a break
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. bark — to shout
  12. content — happy
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. cold — not warm
  15. file — a tool
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. file — a document
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. content — the amount
  20. rest — what's left
  21. rest — what's left
  22. cold — an illness
  23. roll — a cake
  24. rush — hurry

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