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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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. wax — to grow
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. game — a match
  5. fall — the season
  6. fall — to drop
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. rash — hasty
  10. bark — to shout
  11. shower — rain
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. chest — a box
  14. fall — to drop
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. game — wild animals
  17. perch — the fish
  18. chest — of your body
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. rash — a series
  23. shower — to wash
  24. perch — for a bird

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