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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. The ________________ went through the wall.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — from a university
  4. rash — hasty
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. wax — to grow
  8. swing — in golf
  9. field — for sport
  10. swing — to play on
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. field — farmland
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. degree — temperature
  20. rash — a series
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. swing — music
  23. bark — to shout
  24. field — a subject

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