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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. tube — a container
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cold — an illness
  6. wax — to grow
  7. stem — to come from
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. dip — to sink
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. spring — of water
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. bark — to shout
  19. spring — the season
  20. cold — not warm
  21. tube — the underground
  22. spring — a coil
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. coach — a trainer

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