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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. scale — size or range
  4. ground — a position
  5. plane — a tool
  6. ground — the earth
  7. wax — to grow
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. staff — employees
  11. bark — to shout
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. drill — the tool
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. scale — in music
  19. drill — a practice
  20. ground — crushed
  21. drill — army training
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. staff — a stick
  24. straw — a straw man

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