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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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. tear — to rip
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. bass — the fish
  7. tear — from crying
  8. court — for sport
  9. bound — tied together
  10. bound — certain
  11. bass — low music
  12. cold — not warm
  13. court — of law
  14. bound — obliged
  15. face — to confront
  16. wax — to grow
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. face — to point toward
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. face — part of the head
  22. cold — an illness
  23. court — of a king
  24. bass — the instrument

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